Barimen's Legacy
by Aescela
Summary: The Goblin assassin and master of thievery Styx finds himself a special someone while the Inquisition tries everything to capture him, no matter the cost. While Styx is feeling like the luckiest bastard on the continent, the Inquisition's agents hunt him relentlessly and put both him and his new friend in great danger.
1. Prologue

WARNING: This story contains lots of sex, swears, alcohol, fictional drugs, gore and violence. Also, it contains a Goblin, which explains all of the aforementioned. What did you expect from a totally romantic lovestory about a ̶h̶̶a̶̶n̶̶d̶̶s̶̶o̶̶m̶̶e̶̶ ̶̶a̶̶n̶̶d̶̶ ̶̶w̶̶e̶̶l̶̶l̶-̶m̶̶a̶̶n̶̶n̶̶e̶̶r̶̶e̶̶d̶ backstabbing sneaky nasty Goblin assassin?

Another WARNING, this time concerning SPOILERS:

This fanfiction is based on the games "Styx: Master of Shadows" and "Of Orcs and Men" by Cyanide Studio/Focus Home Interactive. It takes place after the events in those games, so there are some spoilers when it comes to endings and revelations. If you don't care about that, have fun reading, but I highly recommend checking out those games since this plot relies on some pretty complicated things, just to avoid confusion. Also, the games are simply AMAZING. If you don't have the time, you might want to watch the cutscene videos out there on the tubes.

Also, there might be some bits of the Elder Scrolls series (and other games) mixed in to fill in the gaps the games didn't tell me about. There is some OC stuff going on, since there's not many characters in the games one could use for this kind of story. Styx needed some very special girl to... _interact_ with, so I came up with one. 'Cause I can. Enjoy!

...

 **Barimen's Legacy**

Prologue

Even though it had been one of the most severe catastrophes to the human Empire, the fall of the Atrium of Akenash had never raised much attention. It almost seemed like the Empire, with the Inquisition at its head, wanted to forget about this disaster as fast as possible, and never touch the matter again. Only few voices asked questions about what happened when the giant tower fell burning from the sky, taking all its inhabitants and the World Tree with it, but they were silenced quickly. One did not talk about Akenash, not about what might have caused the Empire's most precious source of Amber to run dry, not about the plaques of Goblins that appeared everywhere over the Iserian continent shortly after, and not about the broken treaty with the Elves.

And yet, some did not forget. Aaron Barimen, the son of the late Governor Barimen himself, made sure his very personal source of Amber would never run dry. While the Elves retreated from the human Empire, one of their kind was left behind, accused of treason for helping an impure creature: The Elven ambassador, Nym. Held captive by Aaron, he was forced to keep distilling the very last leftovers of raw Amber to make this dangerous, but powerful drug available for traffic. Being the only known human with such a contact, Aaron's secret influence rose, and after his death it was given to the next generations within house Barimen. Almost two centuries passed since the World Tree fell, and with the assassination of the youngest Lord Barimen shortly after being crowned to the Emperor of the Iserian continent, this last Amber traffic died away as well.

Soon the stock of Amber, a substance so unpredictable and fragile, yet most addicting, was short everywhere. The Inquisition always openly condemned the unrighteous Amber, but still had supported the Barimen family due to their influence and power, and also because numerous Inquisitors and High Disciples had acquired a taste for the forbidden sap. The thought of finding a way to get more Amber seemed very profitable. Eventually, the secret of house Barimen, Nym, was no longer a secret and within the lawless chaos of the Orcish rebellion and the re-organization of the Inquisition he was hunted down like an animal.

Nym finally fell in the hands of the Inquisition, who wanted to force him to grant them access to Amber. When he tried to explain to them that the last remains of raw Amber were used up and the source, the World Tree, destroyed, they didn't believe him. The new High Inquisititor, the Bigot, was convinced that there must be a way to get raw Amber, another source, a secret, hidden by the Elves. He tortured him the cruelest way, and finally, weakened by the years of slavery, Nym gave the Inquisition a name: _Styx_.

When the Inquisition sent out their spies to gather more information about that Styx, it seemed like he was some kind of ghost. Nobody knew anything for sure, but there were lots of myths, one worse than the last. They did not get much provable information about him, nor about the use he might be to them, they merely knew he was a Goblin unique among his kind, for he was supposed to be the only Goblin capable of speech. Further research revealed rumors: It was said that Styx was the one involved in the malicious murder of Emperor Barimen, the one who had assisted the traitorous Orc and killed numerous Inquisitors. Voices whispered that Styx was a furtive assassin, a most intelligent conniver of the Orcish rebellion, a powerful mage capable of black magic and worse.

With further torture, the Bigot forced Nym to remember more details about Styx. Unintentionally, he revealed that he was condemned by the other Elves for helping Styx be reborn in the Amber, that he might have been involved in the crash of the Atrium and the destruction of the World Tree. Nym wasn't sure, he did not know. After he had shown Styx the path to one of the Amber cocoons, he had never heard of him again.

That much was enough for the Inquisition, for they sensed a promising clue to follow. They sent out their most ruthless spies and agents, determined to find and capture that infamous Goblin, no matter the cost...


	2. I

I

Said Styx didn't give a shit about the Inquisition, about Nym or any other of those assholes, he had left that behind him long ago, buried deep in the muddier bits of his mind. The Empire had been severely wounded, the Zealot was dead, the Emperor a pile of mush on the bottom of the Mire and the Orcish rebellion raged on and on. After all the trouble he had been through, Styx had departed from his buddy Arkail, promising the big guy to soon see him again, him and his family, as soon as Ark had the time. For now, the Arkail the Butcher was busy smashing palefaces to pieces for honor or Mother Earth or something, like he always did, and Styx minded his own business.

Spending his hard-earned money at a tavern, that is.

He was drinking mead with a friend of his, a red-haired Dragonelf named Sicca who was as brazen as he was short, and always fun to chat with. They talked about this and that and eventually ended up talking about Siccas numerous romances with all sorts of women, and what he had planned for tonight.

"Ahhh, Dark Elves...", Sicca said dreamily, "I can't get enough of red eyes. So damn pretty, I tell you. Hey, I've never seen you with a girl. What about you? What do you like?"

"I'm a Goblin, stupid, that doesn't really make it easy. All the other Goblins are mindless rats, not very good for reputation. Not like you Dragonelves, everybody likes you", Styx replied, sipping at his mead.

"You can pay any kind of girl to do you a favor, you know?", Sicca said, winking rakishly.

"I'm not really into that... Sure, sometimes it makes stuff easier, in hard times, but I don't like it. Besides... I can't stand the smell of humans, and most of them are humans."

Sicca thought for a second, glancing around the room. Styx didn't pay him much mind, he was busy with his mead.

"Do you like Dragonelves?"

"More than Elves and humans, so yeah, I guess..."

"In that case, you should talk to Maera."

"Who the fuck is Maera?", Styx asked. Sicca pointed.

Across the tavern room, stuffed with mixed-bloods, humans and all kinds of Elves laughing and drinking, a Dragonelf girl was sitting on a table by herself, a flask of golden wine next to her, reading in a huge dusty old book. Her long dreadlocks were silver-blond, her big eyes hazelnut brown. A barnowl was perched on her shoulder. From time to time, she reached in a pouch on her belt that held her woolen robes together, picked out a chunk of raw meat and gave it to the owl, without looking up from her book. Her left hand was clad in a leather falconry gauntlet. According to her functional, yet elegant robes dominated by shades of dark pine and ivory that reminded one of the mages' novice clothing, she belonged to the staff of the Thaumaturgan Academy, even though her own set seemed to be a little more worn and messy than the usual prim correctness of those guys. She seemed deeply concentrated, yet she was a vision of delight. Styx glanced at her for a second and decided that he shouldn't even try.

"Nope, fuck this."

"Oh, you should totally talk to her! I know Maera from the Library, she works there! You have plenty of things in common!"

"Oh yeah, totally! A distinguished Librarian bookworm talk to a Goblin like me? You must have taken a blow to the head, Sic."

"Shut up and trust me. She's different and very special! She's a Dragonelf, you know what we are like! What do you have to lose?", Sicca laughed.

"I dunno. Not feeling like it. Ouch!" Sicca had given him a punch. "Move it!"

Styx resisted for a moment, but Sicca kept pushing and teasing. Finally, Styx gave in just to make him shut up. He _really_ didn't feel like flirting right now. In fact, he rarely felt like it, for over two hundred years of experience had show him that the vast majority of women of any race thought of Goblins as vermin (justifiably, since Styx was the only exception), and the tiny lot that would agree to not flee from his overtures requested payment. Styx did have a bunch of female friends, like Fox from the Black Hand and Arkence the Mage, but that was the point. They were friends, and any advances from his side were a guarantor for either a dagger or a lightning in his ass. This was going to be a conversation of that kind, he was pretty damn sure. He just wondered whether the Dragonelf would toss her book or her glass at him. Or her owl.

Grumpily, Styx shuffled over to Maera and sat on a free spot next to her on the bench, prepared for a short chitchat with a boring geek and to be rebuffed immediately. He already thought about a fitting insult for Sicca for his stupid ideas when coming back to him.

"Hi...", Styx started lamely, but before he could say anything else, Maera quickly rose up one finger to keep him silent. She didn't bother to look up, her eyes still flying over the letters of the old book.

A few awkward seconds passed.

"The fuck...", Styx tried again.

"Shhh!"

Maera kept reading for another half a minute. Then, so sudden that Styx flinched a little, she gazed up at him, with a wide smile on her face, her eyes glittering with excitement.

"I never knew that Raelor the Raven took alchemy lessons from Paracelsus himself! His poisons made him the most successful assassin in history! He even invented a potion that tasted like honey and made the lungs of the victim burst, so it would suffocate on its own blood after drinking a poisoned cup of tea! Isn't that _amazing_?"

Styx stared at her with an open mouth. Maera blinked, a sheepish look on her face, as if she just had realized her own outburst.

"Oh, I'm sorry for that... The research on the history of alchemy always makes me a little... overly enthusiastic." With an abashed sigh, she carefully closed the book. "The other researchers at the Academy sometimes think I'm creepy, being that interested in acids and poison and stuff... I'm sorry, what were you going to say?"

"I was actually trying to say hello and leave a second after that, but then you spoke about the legendary Raelor the Raven and poisons. My name is Styx", Styx said, with an amused grin on his face. This could turn out to be more interesting that he thought.

"My name is Maera." She smiled warmly, looking him over.

"You are a Goblin?"

"No, I'm an oyster. What did you think?", he said, a little too harsh, but Maera just laughed.

"I think I've heard of you."

"Nobody has heard of me. All the ones that heard of me are dead."

"We shall see. Ask me about the music of life."

"The fuck...? What do you know about _that_?"

"Ask me."

Styx was starting to think that this girl was a little odd in more than one way. Why did she know the secret question to open the door of the northern Dark Brotherhood sanctuary? Whispering, so nobody else could hear, he asked her.

"What is the music of life?"

"Silence, my brother."

Styx was impressed, and _most_ curious.

"Correct. I guess you owe me an explanation. Why the fuck do you know about that? You are not even a member!"

"Have you ever been to the Old Thaumaturgan Academy? Most Academies are on the side of the rebellion, for we suffer under the Inquisition as much as most free folk. We secretly provide knowledge, spells, runes and alchemic products to lots of organizations that oppose the Empire. We help them, they help us, you know how that works. The Dark Brotherhood visits quite often to refill their stocks, and as there's some Dragonelves among them, I am quite well informed. I've heard of you, you seem to be quite successful."

"Oh, I'm just the best assassin that ever lived. I'm sure I could do better than Raelor the Raven!"

"You are just as modest as I've been told", Maera said, laughing.

"Do I owe you this?", Styx wanted to know, putting a vial of light green acid on the table. Maera took it in her delicate little hands and shook it.

"No. I'm pretty sure Master Cornix mixed this. I'm not a very advanced alchemist, I'm a literature researcher and Librarian. I'm good at knowing stuff, not dissolving stuff." She handed him the vial back with a wink.

"But you are interested in dissolving stuff?", Styx asked.

"In alchemy, yes. But also runemagic, history, scrollwriting, spellcasting, poetry... Anything written", Maera said, with a gentle tap on the book. Styx tilted his head a little to read the title and author.

"Paracelsus... I've already read something of that guy. He has written the _Astronomia Magna,_ hasn't he?"

"You know that one?", Maera asked with wide eyes. "Most other Librarians refuse to read it due to the very explicit anatomical details. It's actually pretty nasty how vividly he describes what his poisons do to flesh..."

"I know, it's gross! And you are fine with that?", Styx wanted to know, impressed.

"Fuck those wimps. The bloody bits are not too troublesome for me, I actually think it's quite interesting... Paracelsus' formula of the venule-elixir is pure genius."

"I have a bottle of it right here."

Styx put a small vial of light-purple poison on the table, and her eyes lit up.

Maera was enchanted. She asked him everything about the poison and his experiences with it in practice, and then looked up some information on the poison for him in her book, which was some kind of almanac. She explained him how it was made and what else it could be used for. Soon, they talked about Styx's latest missions and his adventures with the Inquisition, and she wanted to know everything. Styx was captivated. Maera turned out to be most interesting and entertaining, and she didn't shy away from anything he told her. On the contrary, she asked him question after question, and he gladly answered them in all their bloody details. Surprisingly, he found himself asking her about her work and life in the Academy as well, even though he had never really cared about the bookworms there, but hearing about the secret support they offered the rebellion from somebody who was directly involved in it was more exciting than Styx would have thought. The Academy and especially the alchemy section seemed to be an even bigger string puller than he had already known, and when he dared to ask her about the more sanguinary aspects of the research done there, she didn't flinch from his gory interest. Quite the opposite, Maera shuffled closer to the Goblin until they sat shoulder to shoulder. Talking to her felt more like talking to a good buddy he's known for ages, but with a most beautiful smell and probably the most seductive eyes he had ever seen. Styx couldn't help but feel strangely attracted to her, even though they didn't actually flirt. He made her compliments from time to time, and surprisingly she did too, which was another thing hard to believe for him. He felt a little like he was dreaming, and it was not a nightmare for once. As it got later, they both sat so close together that she was almost sitting on his lap, and as she had complained about the cold he had put an arm around her shoulders. Still, they were not flirting. But somehow they were getting closer to each other. It was strange to Styx, yet he really, really liked it and he wouldn't have left the place for a ton of gold right now. He made a joke and Maera laughed, and then she turned her face to his.

She kissed him.

Styx was so surprised he forgot to breathe. For a few heartbeats he froze, utterly stunned, but she smelled so wonderful and her lips felt so sweet on his that he couldn't help but return the kiss. When they stopped, she opened her eyes and gazed at him. He made a completely baffled face, his long ears pricked up and wide-eyed with surprise, but Maera just looked as if stopping was the most stupid idea he could possibly have come up with. She inclined her head, her eyes closing slowly, and brought her face closer to his once more. Styx agreed by tilting his head a little and leaned in to kiss her again. He felt her warm tongue brush against his lips and he opened his mouth slightly, taking her in and answering the same way. Her sharp, pointy teeth tickled against his tongue. The taste of her mouth was so sweet and heady that he felt like savoring some expensive wine, making his head swim. This was _definitely_ better than drinking mead with Sicca.

Styx couldn't have said for how long they kept kissing, but it must have been quite a while, for somehow she got her hands under his hood and stroked the stringy muscles on his greenish mottled chest, while he was holding her by her waist, running his hands up and down her slender back. Typical for Dragonelves, her green skin had an unusually high temperature and her warm hands drove pleasant chills up his spine. Styx started to feel a certain tension in the abdomen area, and by her quick breathing he could tell that she liked it just as much. As if she had read his mind, Maera pushed away from him and stared him deeply in the eyes, her dark irises glittering.

"I'm tired of this place. Let's get somewhere else, with less people around. What do you think?"

"Good plan", Styx said with a wide smile. She grinned, stuffed her book in a bag and carried the owl on her gauntlet. She took Styx by the arm and led the way up the stairs to the guestrooms. As Styx glanced about the room one last time, he noticed Sicca at the bar, with a sassy wide grin on his face, raising him a toast with his cup. Styx quickly made a mental note to pay his friend some rounds of whatever drink he wanted if this night was going to continue like it did.

Maera lead him to the guest room at the very end of the wooden corridor. The room was dimly lit with some candles and a small lantern. There was a large narrow bed draped with blankets, with a small table next to it. The windows were closed but for one, and the moonlight shone through the glass. The barnowl, which was named Bryn, as Styx had learned, flew through an open window outside into the night to hunt. Styx and Maera staggered to the bed, took place on the edge and continued kissing. She helped him remove some of the harder parts of his leather armor, the gauntlets, scratchy shinpads and shoulder armor, scattering them on the floor. Watching her subtle little hands undo the belt buckles and toss away his armor bit by bit made him feel dizzy. The good way. All the while, he caressed the area behind her long, pointy ears with his fingers, running them along the ridge. It made her purr. He liked that sound. Styx's head swam and he still couldn't quite believe how lucky he was, when suddenly Maera pushed him away.

"I'm thirsty. Would you be so kind and fetch us a flagon of mead from downstairs?"

"As you wish, beautiful."

Flashing her a dirty grin before he turned to the door, Styx went downstairs. He was slightly disappointed to be sent away like that, but eager to keep her in a good mood and almost nervously excited about what the night might bring. When he came back in the room, all he could do was stand there and stare confused.

Maera was standing in the middle of the place, with a big dark-green cloak covering all of her body. "Close the door", she said softly, her eyes never leaving his.

"What..."

"Shhhh."

Some instinct told Styx that it might be a good idea to hold his tongue and obediently locked the door behind him. When he turned around again, Maera let the cloak drop to the floor. Under it she wore a sash that covered the lower part of her belly and her hips.

Apart from that, she was all naked.

Even though she was as tall as the Goblin, just a little more than half as tall as a human, her torso was shorter than his, with slim shoulders and small, but very beautifully shaped, firm breasts and a slim waist. He could see the muscles of her belly under her light-green skin. Her lower body was much wider than her shoulders, with wide pear-shaped hips and curvy thighs. Her long legs ended in ankles as delicate as her hands. Styx couldn't help but stare at her speechless, his glowing eyes wandering about the smooth curves of her body, admiring the elegant way her waistline descended into the voluptuous swing of her legs. The candlelight made her soft brown eyes shimmer golden. She was amazingly beautiful.

"Give me the flagon", Maera ordered softly. Styx handed it to her, still stunned with awe, his mouth turned dry. Maera made a few steps back until she reached the edge of the bed. She knelt on the bed, removed the stopper from the flagon, tilted her head back and poured the mead slowly over her chest. The golden liquid trickled down her breasts, dripping from the tips down onto her belly, down her abdomen and thighs and made her skin glisten in the candlelight.

Styx thought for a second he was going to faint.

"Are you not thirsty for some mead as well? Come and help yourself", Maera whispered. She didn't have to say that twice.

A heartbeat later Styx found himself on the bed, kneeling in front of her, kissing her neck and licking the mead from her naked skin. Maera snickered as his tongue glided across her body and poured some more mead over her, then she took a swallow herself and put the bottle aside. Styx was sure that no mead had ever tasted as sweet as the one he licked from her naked belly. She moaned softly when he hungrily traced her breasts with his tongue, swirling it around her nipples until they became stiff. His hands shook with desire when he let them wander over her burning skin, his sharp claws leaving dark traces were he grazed it in his rising tension. The two kept caressing and kissing each other, and her warm hands felt wonderful on his back and chest. Soon, he was almost naked as well, dressed only in his short, ragged pants. While he was holding her by the hips, fervently stroking her breasts with his free hand and licking her neck, Maera let her hands roam over his chest and belly.

Styx could see a hungry glitter in her eyes as she traced the pronounced edges of his abdominal muscles with her fingers, the glowing lines of his tattoo and the strong, stringy muscles of his arms under the scarred, greenish skin. She liked his body, and she let him feel that. Styx felt just the same. Maera's body, the way it moved, the way her soft lips and warm tongue felt on his muscles, all that nearly drove him insane. Her kisses didn't taste of duty, and the desire in her gaze and the way she trembled when he touched her, it was all honest. She didn't want his gold, she wanted him, his body, his hands all over her. Whatever he had done to deserve this was an enigma to Styx, but he fucking wouldn't stop it.

Then Maera slid her subtle hand into his pants without a warning, closed her fingers around his shaft and started to gently stroke him.

Styx gasped. It felt so amazing he forgot to breathe for a few seconds. Nuzzling the curve of her neck, he thankfully enjoyed her caresses for a while, ears drooping and eyes closed. He quit his blissful purring when he felt her tug at her sash. He got the hint and stripped her out of it, pulling her against him, his hands savoring her ample, firm rear. Then he slid one hand between her thighs, feeling the wetness there. Carefully probing his way, he found that sweet spot and carefully stroked it with circular motions. Styx grinned as a shuddering moan escaped Maera's throat in sudden arousal and she clutched his back with her sharp claws, shivering as he carried on.

Styx's instincts normally would tell him to get to the point as fast as possible, with as little sentimental fussing as possible. Even though he was unique in the true sense of the word and preferred to stay alone, he still had needs, and if that meant paying some girl to do him a favor, preferable turning her in a way that spared him the view of her face, that was the way it went. The fact that he couldn't really stand the smell of humans and Elves didn't make it better. Because of that, his encounters with women were scarce, usually rough and short, and afterwards he often felt worse than before.

But _this_ … This was a gift.

Styx felt deep inside his torn heart, behind the blackened walls of anger and buried shadows, that this was an once-in-a-lifetime treat that he better not fucked up.

 _Make it good, Rakash_ , he told himself. _Make it nice for her._

He gave in to Maera's hungry kisses and wet skin bucking against his, her hot breath on his neck, her hands all over him. The life as a thief and assassin had given him fingers as deft as a surgeon's, and the way he caressed her sensitive ears and the centre of her heat between her thighs made her shiver with lust. He could have done this forever, if she didn't have the most skillful hands herself. Soon, Styx had the feeling he couldn't bear the tension a mere heartbeat longer without bursting. He carefully pushed Maera to lie down on her back, and she willingly did. She glanced up at him, her eyes black with desire, signaling him to come as close to her as possible.

"Be gentle", she whispered. Styx just nodded, bent over her and kissed her hungrily as he entered her. Maera gave a short gasp, but then smiled against his lips and crossed her legs behind his back, pushing him in further. Styx stroked her face and breast while he was moving inside her. He could hear his blood rushing in his ears, and his vision was blurred but for Maera winding under him.

He muttered a curse under his breath, desperately biting back a loud moan. Being inside her felt so good he was close to losing his mind. For a short eternity they kept on moving, until Styx felt that he couldn't last much longer. Grinding his teeth, he held himself back. Caressing her nipples and the tips of her pointy ears with his tongue, he concentrated on Maera and her breathy yelps of delight until he felt her convulse, her hands clutching to his back. Her sharp nails scratched his skin and she wound and twisted under him, moaning with enjoyment. A heartbeat later Maera climaxed, her head tilted back and her back arched, and as she trembled with ecstasy Styx came as well, losing himself in the sensation.

Gasping for air and sweating, they lay atop each other and enjoyed the aftermath of their feelings. Finally, Maera started to snicker quietly, pushing at his shoulders. Styx rolled to the side, with a wide grin on his lips. He lay next to her, taking her in his arms to kiss her. Seeing her blissful smile made the profound satisfaction he felt even more enjoyable.

"Judging by that face of yours, I must have been pretty good", Maera said laughing.

"Hell yeah", Styx replied. "And judging by the noise you made, same goes for me."

She punched his arm. "Look who's talking. But I guess you are right. That was most amazing."

"The feeling's mutual, beautiful", Styx said. She kissed him again and pulled one of the blankets over their bodies. She was still trying to catch her breath, snuggling up to him. Styx wrapped her in his arms and deeply inhaled her scent. He was satisfied and relaxed from head to toe, and started to feel a leaden tiredness take over, but not that exhausted, blurry weariness he usually felt when he went to sleep. Maera felt like a remedy.

They talked for some time, yawning and kissing, until they both fell asleep.

* * *

When Styx woke up the next morning, his first reflex was to silently climb out of the bed without making a sound.

The sun was just about to rise, filling the room with a dim, buttery light. Early morning fog covered the meadows outside of the tavern in thick white shrouds. Styx quickly gathered his dagger and armor, dressed and made his way to the window ledge. The open window that Bryn, the owl, had used to fly out last evening was too small for him, and the other windows were locked. He nimbly picked a lock and jumped on the window ledge, ready to leave quiet as a shadow. The morning mist that covered his face in cold dampness was perfect to hide in, allowing him to leave without anyone noticing. He had slept more than well, surprisingly without any terrible nightmares haunting him, leaving him covered in sweat and with racking headaches. On the contrary, he felt fresh and well rested, ready to head for the next mission, another pathetic life to take, another stolen artifact to retrieve, another valuable knick-knack to steal, hiding in the dark from a hundred guards on his ass, chasing and cursing him as if he was a rat. Back to the Black Hand headquarter, or the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary, depending on his next target. Get paid. And then, he would be on his way once more…

Styx hesitated.

He turned his head back and looked at the silhouette of Maera sleeping, the steady rise and fall of her chest, her silver dreadlocks that peeked out from the blanket. In every other occasion, Styx would hit the road as fast as he could to avoid any kind of awkward conversation that might happen after a busy night. Something like that occurred rarely enough in his life, but he still wasn't keen on embarrassing pillow talk the morning after. Besides, he had stuff to do. There was some Inquisition asshole waiting for him to be introduced to his dagger. Huffing, he peered out in the mist, but somehow he couldn't make himself jump down from the ledge.

The memory of last evening came back to his mind, the nice conversation with the Dragonelf and the sweet pleasures the two had had in bed. Styx remembered how comfortable he had felt when he was with Maera, how naturally he had talked with her, as if she was an old buddy he's known for ages. An old buddy with some smoking hot tempting curves, that is, and magical hands. That was a pretty special thing, he reflected. Maera was different from any other person he had ever known, and he had met quite a lot of persons in his long life. Only few were among them that didn't make him want to stab them in the face. Plus, Maera seemed to like him enough to give him the night of his life. She liked him enough to voluntarily jump into bed with him in the first place! He had never slept better than in this night, without any nightmares or headaches.

Now that Styx thought about it, simply running away suddenly seemed like a pretty fucking stupid idea. He considered staying, at least to say goodbye. That might lead to the awkward morning-after-talk he hated so much, with her regretting what she had done with a Goblin last night or something. On the other hand, Maera didn't seem to have been drunk last evening, and it was _her_ idea to get down and dirty. Maybe it was worth a try.

Finally, Styx made up his mind and jumped back into the room. He slipped out of the door and sneaked downstairs into the tavern's kitchen to return with a tablet, covered with hot oatbread, honey, cold deer roast and pears. He carefully placed it on the table next to the bed and the empty mead bottle, which evoked some sweet memories and made him grin. Then he bent over the sleeping Dragonelf and shook her gently to wake her up. Maera turned to him, rubbing her sleepy eyes.

"Styx... You're still here?" she asked, blinking.

"Guess what, I'm most surprised about that myself. Did you hope I was gone by now?", Styx came back. He sat cross-legged on the bed in front of her, grinning widely.

"No, I'm glad you stayed. You just didn't seem like the kind of person to me to come up with a breakfast the next morning."

Then she saw the tablet, and her eyes went wide with surprise. "Alright, I didn't expect that either. I must admit, I'm impressed." Maera sat up and quickly gave him a kiss, not caring about the blanket slipping down to her waist, leaving her upper body naked. Styx swallowed heavily and concentrated on not staring at her breasts _all_ the time. She looked adorable with her dreadlocks all messy and her big eyes still a little drowsy.

"I could eat a horse", she announced, stretching her arms and arching her back.

 _Dammit_ …

It took all of Styx's willpower not to get aroused all over again.

"Well, it's just deer, but if the noble lady will make do with that..."

"Don't you call me a lady, stupid", Maera snapped and punched his arm playfully. "It looks great, thank you. By the way, have you seen Bryn?"

As an answer, a hoot came from the rafters, and a second later the barn owl flew down to perch on Maera's raised hand. She stroked its fluffy belly and let it sit on the backdrop of the bed.

Styx and Maera had breakfast together and again talked about this and that. Her table manners were as bad as he recalled from last evening and she wolfed down the meat as if she hadn't eaten in days.

"Fwhat?", she muttered with a full mouth when she saw Styx's amused grin. "Fucking makes me hungry."

He decided that he didn't mind.

By the time they were done, Maera stood up and got dressed. Seeing her walk from the bed to her pile of clothes naked challenged Styx's self control once more, and he had to shift to prevent his belts and straps from hurting his tense abdomen area. She didn't seem to feel ashamed in his presence, not a bit. He liked that. Maera went over to tie the bird to her gauntlet and let it sit on her left hand. When she was done, she gathered up her bag with the books and walked back towards him.

Styx suddenly got a little nervous. Time to say goodbye. He would get back to his assassinations, and she would get back to her Library. Somehow, the thought made him feel uneasy.

 _Don't be stupid, Rakash_ , he told himself _, after a one-night-stand you say goodbye and that's it. No big deal. That's how it goes, so get your shit together and be thankful for the great time last night._

Still, he didn't like the thought of leaving. Not at all.

As it turned out, Maera had other plans than that.

"Well... What now? Ah, don't say anything. Hear me out. I'm not sure how you think about this, but I really, really enjoyed your company. And I'm not just talking about the stuff you did in bed, though that was more than pleasant. I can imagine that a Library is probably not the place you normally spend time in, but if you're interested to take a look at the alchemy section and the books I told you of, you are welcome to visit me. If you care to see me again, that is", Maera said with one arm put on her hip. That was unexpected.

Styx had to admit he liked the idea more than he could put into words.

"Same goes for me, beautiful", he replied. "Listen Maera, I'll first have to finish another mission, and when I'm done I'll stop by. For a professional like me, it won't take longer than three days."

"Assassinating that ambassador of the Inquisition?", Maera asked.

"Just that. Not gonna be too tricky. What do you think?"

"I'm already looking forward to it", she said with a broad smile. She approached him, put her free hand on his chest and leaned in to give him one last kiss. Styx cupped her face in his hands and answered the same way, and the kiss lasted quite a while, longer than a normal farewell kiss. The two stopped when Bryn suddenly gave a loud hoot, smiling a little awkwardly at each other for a second.

"See you soon, and take care", Maera said.

"Don't worry, these fuckers don't have chance!", Styx replied, already sitting on the window ledge, ready to jump down. Then the two departed, each one back to the place they came from. Styx prowled through the mist that slowly dissolved in the rays of the morning sun, to the contact that would take him to the Inquisition Embassy. Strangely enough, he mused, even though Maera and he seemed to be totally different on the face of it, they were not so different after all. But for now he had to focus on his target – first work, then play.


	3. II

Tiny annotation from my side... There are PICTURES of Maera. A lovely associate of the project on DeviantArt has made protraits of her. Just look up Maera on DA and check her out.

* * *

II

After his mission, Styx asked his contact to drop him off close to the Old Thaumaturgan Academy. Since he normally asked to be brought to the next best tavern as fast as possible, the other assassin had given him some odd looks, but since the Academy supported the Brotherhood he didn't ask for details. Styx knew the Library filled most of the upper floors of the gigantic building, and up all the countless floors, linked by branchy gables, towers and a labyrinth of stairways, just under the lofty roof, Maera should have her chambers and laboratory.

The assassination of the ambassador had worked without incidents. He had infiltrated the embassy unseen as a ghost, leaving only a corpse in a closet behind. The number of Inquisition's agents, the most ruthless and pesky kind of enemies when it came to business with the religious fanatics, was way smaller than Styx had expected, though, as if those assholes were all sent away for something more important than guarding ambassadors. Not that Styx complained about a smaller amount of guards to take care of. Probably they were still having trouble finding the big hunk of beef, Arkail, one of the top-priority targets of them, and that's where they all went. It almost was a little too easy. Sometimes he liked a challenge. Whatever, as long as they didn't spend their time chasing after Styx's ass, he was perfectly okay with it.

When Styx had been done with the assassination, he looked for a path to leave the blood puddle in the ambassador's luxurious bedroom as fast as possible. While doing so, his eyes had wandered over a costly shelf full of expensive looking books. A pretty stupid idea had come to his mind, but he hadn't been able to resist.

 _Why are you doing that, stupid Rakash_ , Styx asked himself over and over again as he carried the heaviest, oldest, fanciest book he had been able to find in the shelf in a bag with him. It had slowed him down quite a bit, but nonetheless he had made it to escape the embassy unseen. And now he stood on the window ledge of what he suspected to be Maera's chambers, his shoulder aching from the weight of the heavy tome. He had decided against using the doors, as he didn't know how the other researchers might react if they saw him without Maera explaining them that he was invited, and anyway, doors and stairs were for beginners. He had simply climbed up the wall of the Library, jumping nimbly across wall hangings and ledges and reached the roof a little later than intended, due to the damn book.

Styx peered through the large window, trying to sneak a glimpse of Maera. When he didn't see her, he took out some of his trusty lock picks and started fumbling on the window.

* * *

Maera squinted at the pile of smoking organs with a disapproving frown.

Her experiment wasn't going as she had expected it to. The acidic solution she had prepared to help Master Cornix did not do what it was supposed to do, and she had no idea why. With a frustrated sigh, she used a wooden spoon to shove the dead rat, which was now a bloody mess, into a bucket. She cursed when she saw the spoon dissolve as well and tossed it in behind the halfway disintegrated carcass.

Master Cornix, the chief alchemist of the Thaumaturgan Academy, was currently looking for a new formula for an acid that could dissolve bodies faster than the existing ones, without leaving any traces. Since Maera was more than interested in that, she had offered to do some experiments to help him. The problem was that the Inquisition had always been trying its best to put obstacles in the Academy's way, for they did not approve of what they did, but could not yet legally stop them teaching magic and doing research. Not speaking of the fact that the High Inquisitor had been justifiably suspecting them of supporting the opposition for quite some time, and his inability to prove such wicked actions was driving him mad. The Inquisition imposed restrictions on the Academy, regulations, pesky controls, tedious bureaucracy. The use of a lot of alchemistic ingredients had been forbidden and Maera was forced to make do with what was left in their stocks until the contacts among the rebellion had smuggled some in for them.

And those fucking stale tinctures simply didn't work properly.

Maera scribbled a note in a large book with a barn owl quill. She was standing in her laboratory, a windowless, overstuffed room one level below her chambers under the roof where her books and desks were as well as her sleeping room and bath. Normally, she used her laboratory to prepare fresh inks and paints, restaurate damaged tomes and cast enchantments, but now the narrow workbench was covered in jars filled with floating pink things, vials and bottles of all sizes and colors, burners, mortars full of herbs and bubbling flasks.

The sound of footsteps made her turn around.

"Maera, there you are. Irathindur told me you were playing with dead animals again", a haughty voice stated. It belonged to a tall, slender High Elf named Ragnasil, one of the leading Librarians. Technically, Maera with her 342 years was about the same age as Ragnasil and also had at least the same status and rank that he had, but he made quite an effort to let her feel otherwise.

"I'm sure that's not how Irathindur described my experiments for Master Cornix", Maera replied coolly. She knew Irathindur, a Wood Elf, quite well. He was a very agreeable person, a little shy maybe and too polite for her taste, but nice.

Ragnasil huffed. " _Experiments_. I see. However, I just wanted to inform you that the institute for earlier Dunmerian literature is soon having a conference with the guest researchers from Winterhold that arrived earlier, and since you are the head of the workgroup concerning Vvardenfell archaeology your presence will be required." Somehow, he made it sound like it wasn't him that required Maera's presence, but she still looked forward to it.

"Of course I'll come. Let's make sure the guys from Winterhold are having one hell of a good time with us, right?"

"Er… right. Just make sure you'll be there when the conference starts, probably next week. And consider wearing clean robes for once." With that, Ragnasil turned around, perfectly groomed hair and robes swirling, and left.

Maera glared after him, huffed angrily and continued wiping the bloody mess from her desk. She surely was excited to meet her colleague J'Zargo and talk to him about their outcomes, but there was always something tedious about those conferences. She loved her work and was so passionate about literature, books and history that it formed a significantly important part of her life, but sometimes the other researchers were prone to drive her insane. Some of them were so fucking _boring_. Or arrogant, like Ragnasil, or just so damn _prim_ about everything that it almost hurt. Irathindur surely was a nice guy, but he blushed every time Maera cursed and when he first saw the dead rats in her laboratory, halfway dissolved and bubbling, he had almost fainted.

As she wiped the surface of the bench as clean as she could, her thoughts went to Styx, not for the first time this day. Maera was not the kind of girl that would hop into bed with anybody just like that, even if that was the usual way Dragonelves went about things. And yet, after having talked with Styx for a while she just couldn't resist to take him into bed with her, her desire to get closer to him rising with every sarcastic comment he made. No, she was not a person for random one-night-stands, but this was something else. Styx was so utterly _different_ from the arrogant, fussy, nitpicky and boring Librarians she often had to deal with, and everything he had told her woke deep longings of secret missions and dangerous adventures in her. Sure, he seemed to be a nasty little dirtbag and probably as far away from a clean slate as possible, but, strangely, all of that excited her more than she could put into words. She really felt like having him with her more times. He seemed to have enjoyed their night in the tavern just as much as she did.

She wondered how Styx thought about all this.

Maera really hoped that he had told the truth when he promised her to see her again.

* * *

Finally, the lock clicked open. Styx grinned satisfied and hopped on the window ledge.

"Maera?", he called, glancing around the room. At least it was the correct place, for he could see a perch with Bryn sleeping on, her feathers all puffed up. The ceilings were very high with wooden rafters and everywhere stood high shelves stuffed with books, scrolls, parchments, boxes and flasks. In between were lots of narrow tables covered with paper, quills, maps, crystals, copper microscopes and other complicated looking devices. Numerous sunbeams floated in through the large windows and made the dust dance and glow like Amber sparks. There were door leading to more rooms, Styx could see. He called her again and this time Maera appeared through one of the doors, a big smile on her pretty face. Styx couldn't help widely grin himself.

"Styx! You came!", she called out as she walked towards him.

"Hey there, beautiful. Of course I came, I said so. Sorry for being late", he replied, jumping down from the ledge he had been standing on.

"I admit I was a little worried that you wouldn't come", she said. Styx opened his arms and hugged her.

"Why would I want to pass on that, silly?", he asked. Maera offered him to sit on a desk, and Styx did so while she went to a shelf to fetch a flagon of wine and two cups. She sat on a chair in front of him and handed him a cup. Styx took a sip. It turned out to be some strong honeyed wine that did wonders to his tired head. They started talking about the mission and how it went, and just like the first time, Maera was enchanted by Styx's adventures. She wanted to know everything, even all the nasty details.

"What poison did you use for the bodyguards?"

"Milk of the poppy, highly concentrated. Nice thing about this stuff is that it makes the victim just tired, and when they wander off to find a place to sleep, they don't wake up any more. It's really discrete, nothing bloody", Styx answered.

"Is it _Papaver somniferum_ that's used in the poison?", Maera wanted to know.

"Maera, are you making up words again?"

She laughed. "That's a kind of poppy flower, the one also used for sleeping tea, in low concentration."

"Well, as long as it works properly, it might as well be fucking daisies, I wouldn't mind", Styx replied. "Anyway, you wanted to show me the alchemy section later, didn't you? We can talk to those geeks there and ask them if you like."

"I promised we would do that, don't worry", Maera said smiling. "How did you assassinate your target?"

"I simply sneaked up on him and introduced him to my dagger. When the guards are gone, those Inquisition ambassadors are all pretty wimpy", he replied, stretching for the bottle and refilling his cup. "And then all I had to do was escape. The way back is always easier than the way in, and this time there were a lot fewer guards than usually. Strangely enough, but the better for me. What happened to you while I was gone?"

"I've finally managed to translate the rune inscription from the stone of Urnes, I've been working on that for years! There were some bits missing, and an archaeologist from the Academy in Winterhold dug up a missing piece and brought it to me. It was really helpful, and now I finally can translate what the inscription says!", she told him with that excited glitter in her eyes. Styx had to grin.

"Hell yeah, that's some good news!", Styx said. "And, what does it say?"

"I'm not done yet, but I'm sure it is part of an old saga of the Nord. It's a story about a battle of some Nord hero against a giant ice troll to free an Elven princess from his cave, or something like that."

"Yeah, good work, beautiful! Essentially, that's pretty damn impressive. But you know. Meh, humans."

"Yeah, I know. Your favourite. Humans weren't always like they are today, Styx, at least some of them. The Nords back then befriended lots of other races, also Elves, and lived in harmony with nature", Maera told him.

"You should show me that runestone when you're done. Maybe that Nord gets squashed to a pancake by the troll, I'd love to hear _that_ story. Anyway, if you'd suggest to a fucking Inquisitor that he should consider just being _nice_ to people that are not as pale and gawky as he is..."

"He'd probably call you a filthy greenskin and burn you right where you're standing, I know." Maera sighed. "So much for the good news. We've also had some more restrictions oppressed on the Academy by the Inquisition. We are no longer allowed by law to produce runestones to hold spells and charms."

"Those assholes. That's a shame, sorry about that. What are you going to do?"

"What do you expect? We politely act like we accept it and make our runestones anyway. Fuck their rules", Maera replied angrily. Styx laughed.

"Hell yeah, that's the spirit!" He rose his cup to hers and they drank. Maera kept on talking about her research and other old texts she worked on. Styx had always thought being a Librarian must be the most boring thing in the world, even though books themselves were pretty useful, but Maera was so enthusiastic about what she did and the knowledge she obtained that she often surprised him with truly interesting stories.

When they came to that topic, he remembered the book he had stolen for her. Suddenly the thought of giving it to her seemed kinda embarrassing to him. Styx hemmed and hawed a little, but finally he took it out of the bag and handed it to Maera.

Her eyes went wide with awe as she saw it.

"This is for me...?"

"Do I look like a Librarian to you? Of course it is. I don't need it", Styx grumbled. Maera was stunned with emotion.

"This is one of the last copies of the _Opus Paramirum_ by Paracelsus... Do you even know how long I've wanted to get hands on a copy of this? This book is invaluable!", she whispered.

"Well, I'm the best. I told you", Styx replied with a wide grin. Seeing how much she liked it kinda made him proud.

"How the hell did you get it?"

"I asked politely. No, really, what do you think? I stole it from that Inquisition asshole. He didn't really need it any more..."

Maera laughed at that.

"Did you do this just for me?"

"Hell no, it accidentally slipped in my bag and I carried the damn heavy thing all the way through hordes of guards. I almost forgot that I had it... Ouch!" Maera had given him a playful punch on the arm.  
"Spare me your sarcasm, you wise-ass."  
"Who's the wise-ass here, bookworm?", Styx came back. Maera laughed again. Then she looked at him with a touched smile. Styx felt a little awkward and kept acting like it wasn't anything special at all, but then Maera leaned forward and kissed him. Styx, who had been complaining about how heavy the stupid book had been, decided to shut up and kissed her back. Her mouth tasted just as sweet as the last time they had kissed, and a bit like honey. It reminded him of the taste of her skin in that wonderful night of theirs, and he had to control himself to not get instantly aroused. They kept on doing that for a while, until Maera climbed on the desk and sat in front of him. He embraced her, stroking her arms. Suddenly she stopped and looked him deeply in the eyes.

"Erm...", Styx said, ears drooping, a bit speechless by her sudden affection.

"Thank you, Styx", she whispered.

He wanted to reply something, but he couldn't think of anything smart. His head was spinning when he saw her smile, and he felt a certain tension in his abdomen area. Maera grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him until he lay on his back, placing herself on his lap. Quickly, she untied her belt and got out of her robes, and just as fast she had opened his belt buckles and pants.

Styx's body seemed to have understood a little faster what Maera was about to do, and she smiled as she saw how he reacted to seeing her naked skin. She closed her delicate hands around his shaft and stroked him gently. Styx let out a raucous moan. It felt wonderful. Grinning dreamily, he put his hands behind his head, closed his eyes and let her caress him for a while, just enjoying the sensations. When she felt that he was ready, his breath coming harder and his yellow eyes glowing, she brought her hips closer to his and let him enter her. Styx gasped with enjoyment, stroking her thighs and waist. Maera moved like a dancer, winding her smooth curvy body, with Styx under her watching with unhidden desire. He placed his hands on her ample rear and guided her movements. She seemed to enjoy it just as much, with her head tilted back and her breathing short and quick. Finally, he couldn't stand the tension any longer. Styx clutched her hipbones, laid back his head and groaned hoarsely as he came with an intensity that took away his breath.

Gasping for air, he lay under her.

When he felt able to look up again he saw that Maera was smiling widely, and he had to smile as well.

"Oh, fuck me sideways... You are driving me crazy, little beauty", Styx said. Then he noticed something. "You didn't come, did you?"

"I didn't", Maera replied. "I wanted to watch your face."

"Ha! Do you really think that is a sight worth the effort?", Styx said with a sarcastic tone.

"It certainly was." She leaned forward, her breasts brushing against his chest, smiling warmly.

Did she mean that she thought he was pretty? It seemed like a really stupid thing to Styx. Dragonelves were pretty, all of them, even the males. Styx didn't really give a shit about what other people thought about his looks, but he was very well aware of the fact that Goblins weren't really known for their natural grace. Maera seemed to not give a damn about that. The way she smiled when she put her hand on Styx's cheek either showed what a talented liar she was, or that she actually liked the way he looked. She kissed his flat, triangular nose, his chin and his craggy green forehead, and after that his lips again. Styx smiled back, utterly confused. He quickly changed the topic.

"Don't you long for some pleasuring yourself?", he asked her with a suggestive grin. She snickered.

"Well, if you think you can handle a second round...", Maera replied, carefully rising from her sitting position, kneeling over him. Styx stared at her body with a hungry golden glitter in his eyes. Maera had been sweating, and tiny drops were glistening on her smooth pale-green skin. As she rose, a thin trickle of greenish milky liquid ran down the inside of her thigh. Seeing that made Styx aroused again only a few heartbeats later. He sat up and gently turned her to lie on her back as if she weighed nothing. Styx placed himself above her, one hand resting behind her head and with the other he pushed her left thigh aside to lie between her legs. Every part of her looked so delicate and beautiful that even when he was bursting with tension, he entered her carefully to not hurt her with crude movements. Maera took a deep breath when she felt him inside her, and smiled against his lips as he kissed her. Styx shifted slightly left and right as he pushed deeper in, trying to find the perfect angle for her to feel the friction. He grinned satisfied when he heard her moan. Maera nibbled his pointy ear, which made him purr and drove pleasant chills down his spine. Feeling her tremble under him and her warm, quick breathing on his skin drove Styx wild. He couldn't resist speeding up his thrusts, but that seemed to be just what she wanted. The Dragonelf moaned with pleasure every time he moved, winding under him. Her sharp nails dug into the skin of his back as she whispered into his ear, almost too quiet to hear: "Harder...". Styx granted her the wish. He felt Maera's heart beating in time with his and her wet body under him. Styx climaxed a few thrusts later, and when he groaned with ecstasy, Maera came as well.

The two lay on the desk, gasping for air. Styx didn't really feel like getting up, he wanted to stay just like he was now, joined with Maera, and bury his face in her hair. When she pushed at his shoulders, he got up reluctantly and rolled to the side, holding her close. She smiled widely, her eyes still dreamy and blissful.

"I'm afraid we made a mess...", she said laughing.

"Yeah, the table wasn't that sticky before", Styx admitted. "But the scrolls were a mess before, so I guess it's fine."

"What...? I am very well organized!", Maera started, but when she saw Styx glance around the stuffed shelves and overloaded tables meaningfully, she gave him a punch and laughed.

"It's not _that_ chaotic!"

"Hey, I didn't say I didn't like it. In fact, I like your place a lot. It's quite the opposite of square. Just my thing", he said. She kissed him, and he closed his eyes for a while to enjoy the kiss.

"Do you want me to show you the alchemy section now?", Maera asked. "After we've dressed, that is."

"Fuck yeah, I'd really like to see it! Think I can get some free samples?"

"Well, maybe not the first time Master Cornix meets you, he's a little special. Typical Alchemist, you know. But when I tell him that you are my guest plus a very talented assassin he's already heard of, he'll shower you with free samples to test them on your targets during missions", Maera said, slipping in her robes and rearranging her dreadlocks.

"Ha, that sounds great. You think you can do that, Maera?", Styx asked, pulling his hood over his head.

"As I said, I guess he'd love to give you newly-developed poison samples to test in the field. But…" She hesitated, giving him an odd look.

"But what?", Styx wanted to know.

"Well… Master Cornix will expect you to tell him about the results." Maera's face switched between looking insecure, hopeful and her usual rakish smile. Styx blinked as he let her words sink in.

"Hold on a second… That would mean that I might have to stop by again at the Academy. Probably even regularly."

"Yeah, just that. If you want to, that is."

"I wouldn't mind. If you're okay with that...", Styx said with a wide grin. The thought of seeing Maera more often seemed better to him than he could put into words. Her skills in bed were mindblowing, and the Academy was one of the safest placed to hide in on the whole continent. He liked were this was going. She seemed to think the same, for she looked relieved for a heartbeat before her smirk returned.

"I guess I can handle that, my place is big enough. Bryn likes you too, and I'll just fetch a second pillow for you", Maera said with a meaningful blink. She turned around and glanced over her shoulder, signaling him to follow her. He did so, and she showed him her chambers, the laboratory, the alchemy section and the books she loved so much. Again, Styx had the feeling they had known each other for an eternity, and yet it was all new and strange to him. He inwardly thanked himself for taking the risk when he had decided to stay after their first night. It might turn out to be one of his best ideas ever and his chance to get laid quite some times more.

When Styx was planning his next mission, his usual thoughts of where to spend his wages afterwards were replaced by thinking about seeing Maera again, her wet, curvy body winding under him, and the mere thought of that made him grin.


	4. III

III

While the Dark Brotherhoods accepted their contracts and fulfilled what they were asked for as they had been doing for centuries, some of the assassins lately came back with bad news. Most of their targets were part of the Inquisition, like disciples, priests and torturers, always condemning the sinful and still committing terrible crimes on the elder races, enslaving them, oppressing them, torturing them. The rebellion, openly lead by the Orcs and secretly supported by the mages of the Academies and the underground, did their best to bleed the Empire dry. After the fall of Emperor Barimen it had looked quite bright for the opposition, but now there seemed to be a change of course.

The Inquisition had something planned, gathering its strength.

Due to the big number of targets among the Inquisition, the assassins often returned with useful information and shared it with the rebellion. According to what they observed while they were lurking in the shadows of the gilded palaces and temples, the Inquisition had started to switch from simply capturing and killing any opposing beings to holding them up and interrogating them. That was unusual, as they normally just wanted to get rid of the heathen scum. They seemed to be looking for something, or someone. Spies reported an alarming amount of raids, with the Inquisition confiscating every tiny drop of Amber they could find. The head of the Inquisition, the Bigot, had ordered to destroy all remaining Amber, they said, but the way the Inquisition agents had transported the forbidden sap, carefully stored away in padded boxes, seemed to prove that a lie.

Apparently, they were not destroying the Amber, they were hoarding it.

The leaders of the rebellion sensed that their enemies were zealously planning something big. They did not know what the Bigot was about to do, but if one could trust what the few that ever so much as heard of his person told, he was even more fervent than the Zealot before him, recklessly enforcing his plans, not willing to stop at anything. The assassins and freelancers of the opposition were told to keep their eyes wide open. Styx, superfluously, was told to stay careful as well. He replied that these robe-wearing nutcases probably just had another of their twinges of madness, and stayed as sneaky as he already was.

While the stealthy blood feud between the rebellion and the enigmatic doings of the Inquisition went on, Maera and Styx continued meeting each other. Master Cornix had been more than excited to shower Styx with free samples of poisons, acids and elixirs that the Goblin tested on his targets. Every now and then Styx stopped by in the Academy to tell the crazy old alchemist about his results. More importantly, it gave him the chance to spend some time with Maera. They would read, talk half the night about her research and Styx's missions and usually end up breathless in her bed. It was a time he enjoyed more than he could say, or any other phase of his life he could remember. During his missions, the thought of getting paid and being able to spend his wages at a tavern had pretty much been all he needed to motivate himself to proceed, but now the thought of seeing Maera again became more prominent every time, not only because of her comfortable bed and the good food. It came in really handy for him to have a safe hideout in the town the Academy was in, and someone to warm his bed at night. A pretty damn sweet bonus, so to say.

* * *

After a very hard and dangerous assassination, Styx barely made it back into town and dashed up the Library walls like a crazed monkey to get to Maera's room. An airship stuffed with the personal guards of some Imperial lordling whose neck he just had broke was chasing him like a pack of dogs through the darkness. It was just after midnight and a cold storm was raging above. Wind and rain turned the whole town into a dark dripping mess only illuminated by crackling lightnings. Styx was injured, exhausted and the rain had soaked him to the bone. He had made sure his pursuers lost his track in the shadowy labyrinth of the old town surrounding the Academy, but he was still bleeding from various cuts and a deep gash a stray bolt had left in his shoulder. He stumbled through the window and ducked in the shadows, ears pricked, and listened for the roaring whale oil engines of the airship.

Aside from the noise the thunderstorm made, it was silent.

Sighing with relief and cursing those bloody humans under his breath, Styx stripped out of his armor and staggered towards the bed the Dragonelf was peacefully sleeping in. Dripping with rain and shivering like a leaf, he crawled into the bed next to Maera and nestled up closely against her to enjoy her wonderful smell and the warmth of her body. Completely spent, he fell asleep.

* * *

"Dammit, where is this thing?"

"It was over there, for crying out loud!"

The captain of the airship rubbed the bridge of his nose with thumb and forefinger. The crossbow man looked guilty, as far as he could tell in the rain and darkness.

"Well, looks like we lost it. Again. His Highness will not like this."

"What now, Sir?"

"It's useless chasing this little rat's ass in this shit weather. Tack about the ship. We're heading back to the temple. Olliver, get over here!"

While the navigator turned the small, nimble ship around to steer it back between the dripping towers and chimneys of the old town, a young officer clad in the typical black-and-blue uniform of the Inquisition stepped forward.

"Sir?", he said insecurely.

"You will have the honor to report to his Highness about what happened back at the docks", the captain announced. The officer didn't look very appreciative.

"But Sir… The Bigot will be furious if he learns that the Goblin we were looking for did not only kill Lord Hoster's only heir, but also escaped us when we were on charge at the dock!"

"That's why you will tell him. And never let him hear you calling him Bigot if you want to keep your tongue in your mouth", the captain said, marching towards the prow. The officer thought for a second.

"We don't know if it _was_ the Goblin we were looking for."

The captain turned around sharply.

"What was that? Of course it was the right Goblin! That Styx is the only Goblin that's wearing clothes and capable of speech!"

"We didn't hear it talk, did we?"

The captain stared at the officer, with the rain falling down on them.

"We didn't", he confirmed. "Still, we lost it."

"Maybe that's because we were able to determine that it was the wrong Goblin we were chasing, and quit the pursuit in order to not waste any time or manpower", the officer continued conspiratorially. The captain thought about that.

"Well… That little bastard Styx is the number one target at the moment, and if we indeed had quit the search in order to not waste time hunting down the wrong Goblin vermin, the failure would appear less big."

The officer nodded at that and grinned.

"Still, you'll need to explain him that Lord Hoster's only heir had his throat twisted while he was sleeping in a locked room surrounded by heavily armored guards on each possible entrance. Good luck with _that_."

The officer's smile faded.

* * *

The next morning, Styx woke up with his arms around a pillow. He glanced around the bed, still half asleep. Sunbeams were floating in the bedroom, and the thunderstorm had vanished. The Dragonelf was nowhere to be seen.

"Erm... Maera? You there?", he called.

Maera showed up frowning from the back of the room with a pile of clean bandages in her arms.

"What the hell were you doing to get yourself into a state like that? I've already picked out the wood splinters from your left knee, but I'm not even remotely done with your shoulder..."

Just now Styx realized that there was a bandage around his aching leg.

"You vetted my wounds while I was sleeping...?"

"You didn't even wake up. You must have been absolutely burned out when you came here, you poor. Let me have a look at your shoulder."

Styx sat up slowly while Maera dumped the cloth on the bed and sat down next to him. On the small nightstand was a pile of metal instruments, scissors and some rags, splattered with dried green blood. Styx raised his eyebrows. He must have been pretty deep asleep if he didn't even feel her fumbling around in his open wounds.

"Stretch out your arm like that. Now, hold still. This might sting a little. What the hell have you done yesterday to get yourself into a state like this?", Maera wanted to know while she poured some brown elixir over his wound. Styx gritted his teeth and cursed.

"Ahhh, dammit. Ouch. I've taken care of my target, some pathetic Imperial upstart and successfully escaped his Lord father's mansion. I barely got away on an airship and that was the end of my luck. I almost got discovered twice and had to squeeze myself between loads of chopped wood. That fucked up my leg a little. But a professional always finds a hiding spot. I jumped in a barrel to stay unseen, but the whole escape was the fucking opposite of comfortable. I'm not some pickled herring! And don't get me started on that damn thunderstorm last night."

"What did the young Lord do to end up on your list?", Maera asked with a frown.

"He was not a child, if you were wondering. Business in slave trade. Mostly young Elven and mixed-blood women. Very successful. Don't ask me to tell you the details of what I've heard about the purpose of those slave girls…"

"I got it. And your shoulder?"

"Some assholes from the Imperial guard pursued me with an airship when I arrived at the docks. Stubborn as mules, those guys. Almost got me with the crossbow."

"Did they know you were the one behind the assassination?", Maera asked, slightly dabbing a ball of wool soaked with salve on his wound.

"Probably. But anyhow, even if they didn't know that I was an assassin, they would have hunted my Goblin ass through half of the town just to get rid of another damn _Rakash_. Kill it first, ask questions later", Styx explained darkly.

"What is a _Rakash_?"

"It's the Orcish word for _Goblin_. Arkail used to call me like that."

" _Rakash_ … It sounds kinda cute", Maera stated, patching up Styx's shoulder with deft hands.

"It means _vermin_."

Maera froze, wide-eyed.

"Oh fuck, I'm so sorry! I didn't know! I didn't want to insult you, Styx", she explained quickly. Styx laughed, reached over with his good arm and gently rubbed her ear.

"It's okay. At first, Ark called me like that to insult me, but he used it so often that it kinda got stuck. In the end, I didn't even bother any more when the big hunk of beef called me _Rakash_ , it was meant to be friendly, you know."

"I see. Sorry again, I won't call you like that", Maera promised.

"Oh no, do it. Come on, try again. Maybe I'll like it", Styx said with a suggestive grin.

Maera hesitated shortly, but then propped herself up on one arm, arched her back, tilted her head and leered at him.

"Stealthy, sneaky _Rakash_ …", she purred. Styx felt a pleasant shiver run down his spine.

"The way you say it, it kinda sounds… sexy, somehow. Kinda nice. Could get used to it", he commented, leaning forward. Maera snickered and pressed a quick kiss on his lips. Then she proceeded to vet his wounds.

"The Inquisition really is even weirder than usually at present", Styx told her. "All the agents and disciples that normally grace the Empire's more important places with their presence were not there, or at least there were less than I would have expected."

"I've heard some Dark Brotherhood members talk about that while they were downstairs with the alchemists. The Inquisition seems to be planning something big, probably all their agents are focusing on that", Maera commented.

"Well, might be. Or maybe they are going batshit about nothing, crazy as they are. From what I've heard, the new boss of them, the Bigot, is even more charming and likeable as the dear Zealot. Damn, that guy was a nutcase. If it weren't for me, he would have whooped Ark's ass. Ouch!"

"Sorry." Maera carefully tied a knot in the bandage she had applied to Styx's shoulder.

"Alright… I'm done with that part, but there are still some minor scratches to be patched up. I'll take care of that after you took your bath", Maera said.

"Shit, the escape yesterday was a hell of a ride... Wait, WHAT? I'm not going to bathe! No fucking way!"

"Oh yes , you will! You smell terrible!"

"You always said you like the way I smell!", Styx protested.

"I _do_ like your normal smell, I like it a lot! But right now you don't smell like yourself, you smell like a barrel of rotten whale oil!", she complained.

"Oh, I wonder if that's because I had to hide in an empty whale oil barrel to get away on that fucking airship!"

"Stop complaining and get to the bathroom right now!"

"No, I won't!", Styx insisted, rushing out of the bed and looking around for a potential hideout. Maera jumped up from the bed and planted herself in front of him. Much louder than one would expect from a creature that fragile-looking, Maera shouted: "Listen Styx, I'll count to three, and if you're not in the tub by then I swear _you'll fucking regret it_!"

Styx froze right where he was standing, gaping at her astonished. Her big, dark brown eyes burned with a sudden fury he'd never had expected from her. She could look _very_ impressive if she wanted to, her nose wrinkled and sharp teeth visible, fists balled. In a very weird way, she looked incredibly attractive to him staring daggers at him with that fierce glint in her eyes.

Before Styx could think of anything sassy to come back with, he remembered all the Dragonelf assassins he knew and how surprisingly devastating they could be in battle. He decided that it might be a very stupid idea to start a serious argument and quickly made his way in the room she pointed to not anger her even more.

"Fine, I'll go before you tear me to pieces..."

"You better", Maera snarled.

A big wooden tub steaming with hot water stood in her stone-tiled bathroom. Styx stripped out of his last bits of clothing and climbed in the tub, leaning back with his arms resting on the sides, so his shoulder didn't get wet. He admitted to himself that the hot water felt amazingly relaxing to his aching muscles and bruises. Maera, now all kind and sweet again, sat down on the ridge of the tub, giving him her most lovely smile.

"See, it isn't _that_ bad, is it?", she purred.

"Hrmpf. Kinda nice."

"I told you so. My poor brave _Rakash_... And what's more, since you've been sleeping next to me I also smell like a barrel of whale oil now... I guess I could really use a bath as well...", Maera said with a salacious smile, running one finger along the ridge of his ear. Styx closed his eyes with enjoyment.

"You don't, beautiful. You smell as nice as always", he answered. Maera shot him a very suggestive glance.

"Erm, I mean... If you want to join me... I guess there's just enough room left for you in the tub and... Hey, careful!" Styx couldn't even finish his sentence when Maera already climbed in completely naked and placed herself atop his lap. Styx put his hands around her waist, pulling her closer.

"I might want to take back what I said about bathing... I kinda like it", he murmured, nuzzling her neck.

Maera giggled at that. They submerged themselves in the hot water, caressing each other to get the dust and whale oil leftover from their skin. It didn't take long until they kissed, and just a little while later they had completely forgotten about getting clean, and also forgotten about everything else but them. Maera bit Styx's neck and breathed in his ear while he gently stroked her between her thighs, fascinated how much lighter she seemed in the water, even lighter than usually. She guided him inside her, and Styx leaned back, his arms resting on the edges of the tub, watching her move, slowly at first, then faster. Her inside was even warmer than the water and felt just wonderful as she rubbed her hips against him. When she sped up, he held her by the waist, kissing her neck and shoulders, adapting his movements to hers. With short, quick breaths the two pressed against each other in the steaming water, losing themselves in their union. Soon Maera climaxed, and when she did Styx came just a few moments after, pressing his head against her chest and listening to the beating of her heart against his. She didn't stop, and when he was still enjoying the blissful aftershock of his orgasm, Maera came again, looking amazingly beautiful as she did.

After quite some time, both were lying in the water, Styx with Maera on top of his lap, gasping for breath.

"Do you feel clean now, or dirty?", Maera asked smiling.

"I know I should feel dirty, you know, the good way, but I feel clean. Every bit of me smells like you", Styx replied with dreamy eyes. Maera kissed him, shivering.

"The water's gotten pretty cold."

"Well, you might want to praise my amazing stamina...", Styx said.

"Oh, shut up, I guess you already know how much I cherished your stamina."

"Yep, I heard that. Twice."

"Don't you want to compliment me instead...?"

"What, seeing me being so breathless I almost fainted is not enough proof for you, greedy thing? Fine." Styx kissed her. "You are driving me insane. Really." Maera looked touched.

"We should get out of the water and maybe fetch us some clothes. After that I'll take care of your remaining wounds", she said, kissing him back.

"Good plan." Styx smiled thankfully. Her help and support felt like a great gift to him, and he even felt a little moved by her care. "I should bathe more often. What do you think? This evening again?"

Maera laughed while she slipped into her Academy robes.

"Maybe. Depends on how dirty we are this evening..."

"I know lots of ways to get us dirty again, don't you worry!", Styx said.

"Oh, shut up!"

"What? Just saying..."


	5. IV

IV

The huge assembly hall of the Old Thaumaturgan Academy was only halfway filled, Maera realized sadly. She remembered times, when the Inquisition was still young and less influential, when there were many more students in the ways of magic, alchemy and history. She pushed that thought aside, it made her feel old. Lifting her chin defiantly, she contented herself by looking over the faces of the students that _were_ there, despite the Inquisition's oppression and the dangers that being a mage student brought.

Between the old stone pillars, covered in dusty golden sunbeams that floated in through the roof, merely a few hundred students were seated on the benches, together with teachers and scientists. The high roof was made of copper and painted glass and looked like a rainbow soulstone from below. Statues of long dead mages and alchemists were perched between the carpets that covered the walls. Maera stood next to the Archmage on the dais, a tall Dark Elf with an awe-inspiring aura. Master Cornix, the chief alchemist and some other leading scientists and professors were present as well. All kinds of species were assembled down on the benches, different kinds of Elves, humans, Dwarves, Dragonelves, two Orcs even, and many mixed-bloods. The Academies accepted those willing to learn, no matter their species or origin, and that was the reason the Inquisition hated them for. Besides teaching science and magic, that is.

The Archmage rolled out the parchment the Bigot himself had sent him this morning, and read.

"In the name of his Highness the Grand Inquisitor and the sacred Inquisition, we declare that the teaching of any race other than pure-blooded humans, as well as hosting those godless creatures, is strictly prohibited. This takes effect immediately. Violation will be punished by the stake." He lowered the parchment. Down in the hall, an angry murmur had erupted, and shouts of protest could be heard.

The Archmage spoke again. "My dear students and colleagues, you've heard the news. We will have to adapt to the situation. This is not the first time the Inquisition puts restrictions on us. Times are changing, and obviously the Empire is eager to ban certain species from our ranks. As our chief scientist in literature and leading Librarian, Maera, please explain to our students what will happen now."

Maera stepped forward, taking the parchment from the Archmage. She rolled it up and held it in one hand as the whole hall fell quiet to listen.

"Well, what will we do with those new laws of our dear Inquisition? Screw them. We'll keep on teaching and working like we always did, and keep on supporting the rebellion. Fuck the Inquisition, and the Bigot!"

She ripped the parchment into half, and then again, and again, until she had a handfull of tiny paper pieces, and while the whole hall was echoing with cheers, she tossed the paper into a brazier, where it burned to ashes.

It didn't take the Inquisition long to punish them for what they did. Somehow, through spies probably, the Bigot found out that the heretic conditions in the Academies stayed unchanged, and quickly he threw new obstacles in their ways.

Maera was shocked when she heard that the delivery of some alchemic ingredients and inks had been canceled, and the ware was lost. None of these things were too valuable, but it threw back her research, as they were vital for her experiments and she needed them now. She had to ask the alchemists to order new supply, only to find out that they also lacked important equipment due to belated deliveries and import restrictions.

"You alright, Maera?", Wennyn, a gentle Woodelf-human hybrid, asked her carefully when she stormed out of the big laboratory in the cellar.

Maera struggled to regain her composure. She didn't want anybody to notice how close she was to losing her mind.

"I'm fine. It's just that there's another important delivery lost, and it happened to be mine", she said, forcing a smile. Her smile faltered when Ragnasil strode around a corner as if he had just been waiting there. She rolled her eyes.

"Oh, great. Come on, spit it out. Make your little jest about me playing with dead animals again, we can all use a little fun now", Maera huffed sarcastically.

"Why should I be so crude?", Ragnasil replied with fake indignation. "Since you aren't going to continue your little baubles for quite some time, as it seems."

Maera stared daggers at him, her hands forming tight fists. Her left ear twitched. If she stayed just one more second, she knew she would explode, and Ragnasil was just waiting for her to lose her temper. Desperately suppressing the boiling rage building up inside her, she strode past the Elves with as much dignity as she could muster.

"If I can help you in any way, just let me know", Wennyn offered.

"Thanks, I'm fine", Maera hissed through clenched fangs. Feeling tears sting in her eyes and the gloating gaze of Ragnasil at her back, she marched up the stairs. She didn't want any bloody _help_. Maera was a person that preferred to take care of problems herself. Wennyn was really nice like most of the alchemists and Maera was sure she was just trying to be helpful, but the last thing she could use now was Ragnasil catching wind of that and spreading word that the odd Dragonelf girl was having a good cry on Wennyn's shoulder like some fucking baby. Still, Maera was angry and sad all the same, and the frustration about the trouble the Inquisition caused them together with those haughty comments fucking Ragnasil had made when he heard about her failed experiments was all too much for her, and she locked herself in her chambers. Tossing an empty ink jar out of the open window and cursing like a sailor, she stomped up and down the room. Bryn hooted indignantly about the noise she made. Sighing, Maera took the barn owl from her perch and stroked her feathers to soothe her. Her eyes welled up, and she angrily wiped away a tear. This _sucked_. She clung to the thought of seeing Styx again, and that he would at least offer her some diversion in bed. She tried her best to calm down to not look all weepy when he arrived.

* * *

After a mission in which he had to guide an Orc rebel through the town unseen, Styx came back to the Library to visit Maera. He made his way up the walls of the Thaumaturgan Academy, the large building shrouded in bold shadows in the light of the evening sun, and nimbly climbed through a window in Maera's chambers. He decided to surprise her, so he sneaked up on her jumping from shelf to shelf, until he reached her desk.

When Styx saw her, he quickly noticed that something was wrong. He hesitated, staying in the shadows.

Maera was crying quietly, her head buried in her arms on the surface of the table.

Styx was disconcerted. For a second he thought about leaving. Maybe she would prefer to be left alone, considering her bad mood. Barging in sentimental stuff was not really his thing, as well as butting into things he had no business with. That only brought unnecessary troubles. On the other hand, seeing Maera cry stirred something in Styx that he couldn't really wrap his mind around, and it hurt him in a strange way. Somehow he knew that just leaving wouldn't make that gnawing feeling better. He blinked, then made up his mind.

Silently, he approached her, but as she heard him coming she quickly turned away to wipe the tears from her eyes, not knowing that he'd already seen them.

"Styx! It's so nice to see you, come here. How are you?", she asked, placing her hands on his shoulders.

Styx could clearly see her eyes still looked tear-stained, but she acted like there was nothing wrong. Not very convincingly. Apparently, he realized, she tried to hide whatever she was so sad about. Styx shuffled uncomfortably as he came to the conclusion that there were just two ways for him to react: He could play along and also act like he didn't see her cry, have a nice time with her and probably get down and dirty later on. That was the easy and probably the most comfortable and smartest solution. He could really use some fun now, being tired and exhausted after his mission. The other possibility would be to waive the sex, ask her about her problem and… well, talk about it with her, probably. Styx wasn't really good at comforting others. He had big troubles comforting himself most of the time, how could he do this for others without making it worse? Styx struggled with himself. Join the farce and get some sweet treats? Hell yeah, he really longed for that. But with knowing that Maera was sad… Somehow, he doubted that it would be that much fun. It would be kinda lopsided. That had never really bothered him before, but Maera was not just some random girl one pays to have fun with. She was different. Special. In every other place and time, Styx would have chosen his own needs over everything else without even hesitating for a heartbeat. But in this case...

Styx, with a small part of him believing that this was a stupid idea, decided to go in uncharted waters.

"Maera... There's something seriously wrong, isn't there, little beauty?", he asked, placing two fingers under her chin and lifting her face up a little.

"What...? No, I'm fine", she said. "It's nothing. Come one, you must be hungry and tired, let me get you a cup of mead..."

"Don't you give me lame excuses! I've seen you long before you saw me, I know that you are sad. Come on, tell me what's troubling you."

She hesitated. "I... No, it's nothing, really. I mean... I don't want to annoy you with that matter. We meet to have fun together, and I don't want to be a mood killer. That's not what you came here for, I'm fine..."

A voice inside Styx _yelled_ at him ferociously to take the offer, forget the stupid soppiness and finally get himself some pleasures.

 _No_. Maera was really troubled by something, but apparently she expected him to do just that: Ignore her problems and use the time they had for fun stuff. She didn't want to be a turn off and really feared that he might become annoyed by her bad mood. A very rarely used part of Styx's mind was hurt by that thought. He didn't want to use her as a relaxation tool, that would be really shitty of him. He wanted her to smile again.

"Listen, Maera. You are going to fetch us some mead, then we'll sit down together and you can tell little old Rakash all that is troubling you. I insist." That made her laugh a little, but she still sniffed her nose.

"... Alright, fine. But I need to feed Bryn first..."

"I'll do that for you. You get the mead and cups and some pillows. Now go, move your pretty butt", Styx said. A while later, Maera and Styx sat down comfortably on a pile of pillows next to her sleeping chamber with some mead. Maera looked sad again.

"Bryn can be such a bitch. She bit me!", Styx complained, glancing at his hand.

"You called her a little fatty. Don't think I didn't hear that!" She tilted one of her long ears.

"Why, she started it", Styx grumbled. "Anyway, now tell me what's wrong."

"Are you sure you wanna hear that? You won't be bored...?"

"Maera, please. I won't be bored, I promise. How could I possibly enjoy what we do if I know you are sad?" He shuffled over to her and put his arms around her so her head rested on his chest. Pressing her closely against him, he nuzzled her crown. "Please, tell me", he said softly, stroking her hair.

Maera's eyes welled up and she burst into tears, sobbing quietly while he held her close. She told him everything that troubled her at the moment, about the new laws of the Bigot, the lost delivery, about how her research was a bad spot right now because of the Inquisition's restrictions and some other personal things that came with that, about some of the Librarians she didn't really get along with...

She poured out her heart to him, and Styx lent her an ear patiently. It surprised him genuinely that listening to her wasn't awkward or boring or annoying. He honestly felt with her, and since he hated the damn Inquisition as much as she did, he really could understand her frustration about all the troubles they caused the Academy. And what she told him about that haughty Elf really made him angry. He felt oddly determined to make her happy again.

"Awww, don't you worry about that asshole Ragnasil. You should feel sorry for him!", Styx told her.

With a confused frown, Maera glanced up at him, sniffing her nose.

"Why the hell should I feel sorry for him?"

"Because the stick he's got shoved up his ass must hurt him pretty badly. I mean, imagine how he must feel with that thing. It's a miracle he can still walk."

Maera burst into laughter.

Styx couldn't help but grin proudly as she shook in his arms, now from laughing and no longer from being sad. He had tried his very best to comfort her as good as he could and it worked! He was more than relieved that she accepted his help. She must be going through a lot of shit right now, he could imagine. Thinking of that gave him a slight sting.

"You know, I kinda feel a little guilty...", he started. "Most of the trouble the fucking Bigot causes you is because the Brotherhoods and rebels are pestering him, and he takes out his anger on you science-guys. It's part my fault. 'Cuz I'm so damn efficient in being a pain in the ass of the Inquisition."

"Since when do you care about us science-guys?", Maera asked, laughing.

"Since I've come to know you."

Maera blinked, eyes wide. Styx could have kicked himself in the butt for uttering such soppy stuff, but when a slow, touched smile stretched her lips and she tilted her head to passionately kiss him, he couldn't help but shiver with pleasure. He returned the kiss, satisfied that she felt better.

"We keep on pestering the Inquisition because it's worth it", Maera explained. "They are a bunch of racist, fanatic, discriminatory, self-righteous, self-important pricks and if we can offer any help, and be it only passive by supplying the opposition, we will do that."

"You guys are nuts."

"It's not so different from what you do, Styx. You said yourself that you are the biggest pain in the Inquisition's ass there is!"

Styx laughed dryly. "I do it for the gold."

"Guess what, us scientists get paid too for our efforts. Though it's more barter than actual payment. Still, you'd never take a contract from the Imperial side, if they had the nerves to offer you one. You do what you do because you think what the Empire does is wrong. You got ideals. That's part of what I like so much about you, Styx." He tensed a little at that, feeling awkward. He quickly pushed his face in her hair and playfully bit her ear, which made her snicker.

"You guys are still nuts. Brave, yeah, but nuts. You especially, little beauty. The bravest nut of them all."

Maera laughed and rubbed her head against his neck. "I'm not. I'm just a boring bookworm who plays at poisoner from time to time, and I'm not even succeeding. Damn, sometimes I just wanna run away, away from all those wimpy assholes, from the paperwork and the bureaucracy, out into the wild. Have some adventures." Her eyes started to look wet again.

"What is holding you back?"  
Maera blinked at him. "I... I don't know. I love what I do, my books and reading and _knowing_ stuff. I'd just like some little diversion from time to time. It's been so long since I've been out of the whole Academy-business. The things you tell me are so damn exciting..."

Styx had to laugh. "Well, if I could choose between a warm fire and a good book after some nice tumble in bed _and_ getting soaked in rain and stinky human blood while a horde of guards is chasing my ass, it's an easy choice." Styx grinned when Maera laughed again. "Still, if you long for a little trip outside, we can do that. Maybe take your chubby owl with us and stay away from the paperwork for a while. What do you think?"

Maera smiled warmly. "I'd love to do that." She kissed him, which was good as it hid his awkward expression. All this fussing was all a little too mushy for his taste, but still... Seeing her smile again drove chills up his spine. It felt so _damn good_. Definitely worth it. Styx could feel that Maera really cherished his efforts to make her happy again. He knew that she was tough as nails and stubborn as a mule, and still she dared to share her troubles with him, show him a weakness. It didn't elude him that that was something pretty damn special. Like everything about her was. Here he sat, still clad in his blood-stained dirty assassin's gear, cuddling a fucking Dragonelf beauty and playing the big comforter instead of screwing her on the bed like he should. Fucking weird, and still he enjoyed it. And the most surprising thing about this was that Styx enjoyed making Maera smile again just as much as he enjoyed making her smile the more carnal way. Sure, he always felt a little horny when she was around, but right now he was content just to be with her and talking to her, without any dirty business going on.

It was strange.

Refusing to think about this any further, he asked: "Got some more wine?"

"Sure, here you go."

She poured him some wine and snuggled up to Styx while he drank, his strong arm pressing her against him while the world outside was getting dark. The candles Maera had lit around the pile of pillows the two sat on were casting their dim golden lights, and in the dancing shadows the Amber mark on Styx's shoulder shone brightly, his yellow eyes lighting up as she lifted her head to kiss him once more.


	6. V

V

The Inquisition's agents always roamed about the realm in search of someone the Bigot wanted dead, or captured, or tortured, or all of that, in varying order. The list of targets was endless. In most cases, they were looking for mixed-bloods, the fruit of forbidden love between humans and any kind of Elf or other non-human being, or for scientists that were a little too sure of their "knowledge", or rebels that opposed the Inquisition. After the tragic death of the Emperor Barimen and the Zealot, things had gotten a little messy, but with the new Bigot, who was even more fervent than his predecessor, the hunt after heretics and greenskins could continue. Surely, when the Butcher of Bay Harbor and his furtive assistant murdered the Emperor and freed the slaves of the mire, the power of the Inquisition had decreased severely. It was far away from its former strength, and the war against the Orcs needed to be canceled. For now, for the Bigot had found a promising clue that might restore the lost power of the Inquisition: A way to regain Amber. A creature named Styx was thought to hold precious information on that topic, so the High Inquisitor withdrew most agents from their missions, and gave top priority to finding Styx, a Goblin. Even the hunt after the Butcher of Bay Harbor, the last Bloodjaw and leader of the rebellion, was paused for now.

Soon, the agents found what they were searching for, using their reliable methods of torture and questioning: Styx seemed to have vast contacts among assassins, thieves, mercenaries and other scum you could hire to do your dirty work, all of them opposing the Inquisition's ideals. Surely the Inquisition also had ways to hire sellswords and cutthroats, but those came from organizations loyal to the Empire. The ones that knew Styx, or had heard of Styx, always came from the side of the enemy. It seemed he had worked with the Dark Brotherhoods most often, as some weaker specimens confessed. The Dark Brotherhood, always in need of precious poison, acid and other baneful alchemic mixtures, was said to have contacts with the heretic magic-teaching Academies spread all over the realm. Those Academies were too powerful and influential for the Inquisition to just ban and burn them like they had done with the High Mage Order. There were many, and seemingly they didn't only do research on their wicked magic, but also secretly helped the rebellion by providing knowledge, spells, scrolls, runes and alchemy. That was no surprise, since the Academies accepted members of any race, not only pure-blooded humans, but also Orcs, Elves, Dwarves, even mixed-bloods and other scum like those rakish Dragonelves. The agents continued looking after Styx's possible partners, focusing on cities with Academies or close to Academies, on cities that were suspected to hold Dark Brotherhood sanctuaries and cities in which dubious, unsearchable murders had occurred, with no assassin seen. Relentlessly, they were searching, eventually getting closer to their target.

* * *

"So... You two spent some days in the wilderness? How _romantic_ ", Sicca teased.

The two were sitting on a table in the dimly-lit dining hall deep in the caverns of the northern Dark Brotherhood sanctuary. Abbyss, the head of the Brotherhood, had assigned a bunch of contracts among the assassins and after that most members had wandered off to catch some sleep, prepare their missions, or have some fun before leaving out again, and in Styx's case he stayed with the red-haired Dragonelf to drink a cup of mead.

"Hah, yeah, totally. As if you could do something romantic with a romp like Maera. Should have seen her crazy smile when her owl killed some rabbit so she could roast it. Charred on the outside, bloody on the inside, that's how she prefers her meat", Styx rumbled, sipping at his mead. That was only half the truth. When they hadn't been roaming the forest, they had spent all their time screwing around. Maera made a hell of a noise when she knew that nobody but a bunch of birds was listening. Not that Styx didn't like that. In fact, he couldn't get enough of her crying out his name. They had had a _lot_ of fun out in the deep forests and woodlands around the town, spending some days in the wilderness. Styx also had slept like a bear in winter when he had been around her for several nights in a row, without any nightmares or headaches.

"Sounds like something you'd like", Sicca remarked smartly. Styx grinned.

"Yeah, I do. Thanks again for introducing her to me. She's big fun."

"One just needs to look at your back to see _how_ much fun. It's covered in scratches", Sicca snickered.

Styx tried to turn his neck far enough to peek over his shoulder, but he didn't need to see his back. He could very well imagine what it looked like. Maera could be feral if her lust was taking her over, and her pointy claws were sharp. He didn't mind, to be honest, quite the opposite. The sharp pain that shot through him when she raked her claws across his skin in ecstasy filled him with adrenalin, driving him wild and enhancing his own pleasure. Styx did his best to be gentle when handling Maera, but she too had some minor scratches here and there – mainly around her hips. He knew she didn't mind.

"Maera's just as good in bed as I am", Styx replied grinning.

"Just in bed? Or more than that, after all I've heard?", Sicca wanted to know, casting him a suggestive smile. Styx didn't like where this was going. Thinking about that sort of thing made his head feel dizzy in an uncomfortable way, and something inside him protested angrily.

"Just bedstuff", he affirmed. "I've gotten laid more often since I've known her than in my entire life. And damn, she's just amazing."

"So all you did was fuck around in nature?"

"No. Well, at least not _all_ the time. We did some owl-falconry with Bryn. Hunting and stuff, real fun."

This was true, for once. Styx had truly been amazed at how wild and close to nature the Dragonelf could be. He knew that she sometimes felt out of place among the other researchers, as she was the total opposite of boring and stay-at-home. She really flourished when they had their little adventures, fishing in the streams and walking in the woods at dusk, sleeping by the fire under the stars. Maera was amazingly good at lighting fires, he had observed, making it burn in the blink of an eye, and he wasn't even able to see how exactly she did it. Styx had to admit to himself that he had enjoyed the time more than he could tell, and he'd gladly do it again. Sadly, Abbyss had given Styx a new mission just after he returned that required him to travel away for quite a while, and he wouldn't see Maera for several weeks. That sucked in more than one way. Styx would miss her warm, soft body pressing against his at night, her wonderful scent when she was close to him. But the thought of not being able to talk to her for such a long time unsettled him, just sitting next to her, sharpening his blades while she read or wrote or ground up some pigments in a mortar, just being around her… Thinking of her smile and the sound of her voice when she talked to him gave him a sting.

"Can't wait to get back to her. Gonna finish that Imperial asshole as fast as I can", he declared, and Sicca raised his cup to Styx.

"Same here. I already miss Gabriella. You know how much I like Dark Elves…" Sicca sighed, eyes dreamy. "You gonna miss Maera too?"

"I'm going to miss her skills in bed", Styx lied.

* * *

The Bigot stood on the dais of the Grand Chapel, fixing the magnificent patterns of the large window decorated with the Inquisition's cross. His expression was hidden behind the painted bronze mask he wore, but his light grey eyes glittered zealously behind it. He slowly turned around to gaze down disapprovingly at the group of agents who were cowering at the bottom of the stairs that led up to the altar, heads bowed like children that feared a scolding.

"So... ", the tall young man stated with a voice sharp enough to cut glass. "You want to make me believe that the secret raid on the Academy yielded _nothing_ useful?"

The agents tensed even more. Finally, one of them spoke, but he didn't dare to look up.

"Well, your Highness... We searched very thoroughly and as careful as we could to avoid leaving any traces of our presence behind, but the Thaumaturgan Academy is very large, and we surely couldn't examine all the rooms, and most of the inhabitants possess magical abilities, so..."

" _Enough_ with the excuses!" The Bigot was more than just a little angry. Normally, the Inquisition would carry out controls on the heretic institutions like the Academies, and he was convinced that they were hiding all their sinful crimes from the Empire. Still looking for that certain Goblin, but unable to hunt him down when he was viciously murdering the people of the Empire, the Bigot had decided to secretly sent spies in the Academies all over the Iserian continent to look for clues, hoping to catch him while he thought himself safe. A hint by some spy made the Old Thaumaturgan Academy look most promising, but the raid, taken out in the last night, had proven unsuccessful.

"But your Highness... We looked in the alchemy section, in the summoning section, even in the Library though we were constantly endangered to be discovered, but there was not a single hint of his presence. Maybe the spy who claimed to have seen Styx in the Library was wrong?", an agent dared to ask. The Bigot turned around infuriated, his robes swirling. He hated being opposed by sassy questions more than he hated those filthy elder races.

"So you imply that my judgment is flawed? I, the Grand Inquisitor willed by god and the scared Inquisition, say that this impure vermin must be somewhere in that Academy, I can feel it! You will burn by the stakes for questioning my words! Take him away."

With a dismissive handshake, the Grand Inquisitor turned back towards the glass window while the agent was being removed by some disciples. Styx was known to not have a fixed home or hideout, since he changed back and forth between the Black Hand hideouts, the Dark Brotherhood sanctuaries, different kinds of mercenary groups, always in motion when he wasn't out committing crimes. Hunting him down seemed impossible, but something told the Bigot that searching in that particular city was the right way to go. Yes. His trusty spies couldn't be mistaken. He himself had chosen the ones to send and the places to look for, and he, blessed by godly powers, could not be wrong.

He would keep a keen eye on that city, and the Academy. He would not give in that easily.

* * *

While Styx was away to fulfill his contract, Maera went back to her research. She still found fir needles in her dreadlocks from time to time, and every time she plucked out one from her hair she grinned, reminiscing the wonderful, intimate time they had had on their field trip. Of course, it had been nothing fancy, just some practice in falconry with Bryn and lots of horizontal activities that left her covered in leafs and moss, but she really appreciated the gesture Styx had made with that. Maera knew this was something very untypical for him, and the mere fact that he had kept his promise to offer her some diversion from the paperwork was… well, _adorable_ , sort of. She couldn't put it in a different way, even if that was an odd word for a Goblin assassin. She had grown really fond of him over time. Sometimes, if some somber mood and a little too much time alone left her feel mawkish, the friends-with-benefits relationship Maera had with Styx seemed a little… _unsatisfying_ to her. Sure, he was amazing in bed, and a great and helpful friend to her, but still… Sometimes she longed for something more definite. Maera had even caught herself imagining what it would be if he was together with her in a less buddy-ish kind of way. She had introduced him to her group of Librarians and most of the other scientists at the Academy, and they had gotten along fairly well. At least nobody had been hurt, and they tolerated the Goblin roaming around the institutes, so that Styx had the possibility to move in the buildings on his own when she was busy. So that would be no obstacle if Styx was her…

Shaking her head fiercely every time her mind wandered off in _that_ direction, she contented herself with the thought that it would be a stupid idea to even think about a relationship with a partner that not only hated relationships, but also was so perfectly fine with the bed-friendship they were having now that he would probably flee as soon as she started to get overly attached. Maera was very proud of her independence and she intended to remain free.

That didn't make the fact better that she desperately missed him. If Styx ever started to show honest interest in something more than just a fuckbuddy, she was not sure she could resist a mere second.

Still, she had work to do, and Styx was out on his mission as well, so she pushed those thoughts aside until he would return, and concentrated on her books. While she did so, something completely unexpected happened.

In order to intensify the connections between the Academies spread over the Iserian continent, some new researchers were introduced to the Old Thaumaturgan Academy. One of them was a guest-researcher from a different Academy in the south, a young, very handsome human named Roderick. When the staff of the Library was introduced to the new members of the Academy, Roderick greeted Maera with a kiss on her hand.

"I heard tales of the Dragonelves' beauty, but I never thought I would see one that outshines even the wildest descriptions", he said, smiling disarmingly.

"Why, thanks", Maera said, not paying him too much mind.

Roderick did, though. He was tall, slender, with a straight nose, blue eyes and a head of fancy blonde hair and many of the female staff quickly fell for him. Even though he bandied compliments around like some famous minstrel, he quickly started focusing on Maera. Whenever he could, he tried to get in the Library areas close to Maera's rooms under the roof to work with her. He made sure he ended up in the same research group, taking every chance to talk to her. Roderick greeted her as he walked past, made compliments, chatted with her, always subtle and charming. Maera didn't really care about his flattery, but she appreciated his knowledge and work. It was nice to have somebody to talk about the texts with.

* * *

When Styx came back from his contract, it didn't take long until he stumbled upon Roderick. Maera and Styx were eating supper together, talking vividly about the mission he was going to attend the next morning, when Roderick entered the chamber and approached Maera.

"Good evening, dear colleague! I just couldn't forget what you told me about the lost manuscripts of Sappho, you know, when we did the _intense_ research on her work together. I followed your advice and looked up some of Menander's annotations, and there really were lots of useful comments about her! I must say, without your excellent knowledge of ancient poetry, I would not..."

"Why, good evening to you too, beanpole", Styx interrupted him, squinting at him suspiciously. "We were just having a dinner for two, just in case you didn't notice."

Roderick glanced at Styx as if he just noticed him for the first time, then kept on talking to Maera, ignoring Styx.

"... As I tried to say, the cooperation with you is most _satisfying_..."

"Roderick, please, can't this wait till tomorrow? I'm having supper with Styx here", Maera said. "Styx, this is my new colleague Roderick of Mezdé. He's come from another Academy to us and works in the same research field as I do. Roderick, this is Styx."

"I'm very pleased", Roderick said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "So he is your servant...?"

"A _servant_?! I get called a servant by a fucking pansy, how do you like that? If I told you about my job, you'd probably wet your pants for fear, bookworm!", Styx snapped angrily.

"Styx, it's fine. Roderick, Styx is a... a very good friend of mine and I'd like to be alone with him for now. Can we discuss this tomorrow?"

"As you wish, dear colleague. If you long for someone to have more... high-class conversations with, just let me know." He gave her a most sassy blink, turned around and left her rooms. Styx glared after him with an angry golden glitter in his eyes.

"What the fuck...? Who is that guy? What do you have to do with him, and why didn't you tell him to get the fuck away?"

"He's just a colleague, as he said himself. You know I do research on lots of different topics, but my studies on ancient southern poetry has gotten a little stuck, and he's quite an expert in that field. He helps me a lot", Maera said even-minded. "Could you pour me another cup of mead?"

"Sure, here you go... But... How do you manage to work with him, he's unbearable!"

"Don't get too huffy about him, that's just how he is. When I work with him he's very competent."

"Hrmpf."

Styx tried to forget about Roderick, and they spent a pleasing evening together. But when they went to sleep, snuggled up to one another, Styx lay awake for quite some time, and thought about what happened today. He did not like the hungry way Roderick's eyes had wandered about Maera's body. Not a fucking bit. And Maera's reaction… She had said Styx was _a very good friend_. Was that a good thing? Surely it was, but something about that sounded most unsatisfying to Styx. His head started to hurt as he thought about that longer, so he just shrugged, buried his face in Maera's long silver-blond hair and tried to sleep.

It took him hours to fall asleep, and when he finally did, he had terrible nightmares again. It was the kind that let disturbing pictures of his past flash across his mind, terrifying images of things that had been true or had seemed to be true, or things that simply were too absurd to be real, all covered in the golden glow of Amber. An insane laughter that sounded almost like him, just much older, thundered through his head, voices calling to him, telling him things that he had long forgotten, buried deep in the dark corners of his memory, faces rushing by, hunting him, chasing him with swords and maces and crossbows, calling for his death.

Styx woke up screaming.

"Styx! Shhh, it's okay, calm down. Everything is fine."

Styx was vaguely aware that he had sat up, and Maera was placing herself on his lap. His vision was blurred as he struggled to shake off the disturbing pictures, to stop the panic that was filling his veins with fire, making his heart race like a bird in a cage.

He felt her warm little hands on his cheeks.

"It's me, Maera. I'm here with you, everything is fine. I'm here. You're awake. Shhh…", she soothed, stroking his face, pulling him close. He breathed more slowly and felt his heartbeat relax. She pressed a kiss to his wet forehead.

"Maera…?"

"Yes, it's me. I'm here. Just calm down, nothing bad is going to happen", her voice purred next to his ear.

Finally, he found his way back into reality, though he was still shaking like a leaf. Styx put his arms around Maera and pressed himself against her warm body, clutching to her as if she was the only thing that could prevent him from sinking into that horrifying vortex again. She gently pushed at his shoulders and he lay back again, pulling the blanket back over their bodies. Thankfully and utterly exhausted from the aftermath of his nightmare, he held the Dragonelf close, inhaling her calming scent. It had been quite a while since he had had a nightmare this bad, but as always Maera's presence was balm for his soul. Her incredibly high body temperature helped him relax further as he allowed himself to close his eyes again, drifting away.

 _Into darkness…_

There were sunken trees, reaching for the sky with blackened branches like drowned bodies, stuck in the mire. Misty shrouds covered the ground, hiding the vicious holes and pits under the muddy surface. There were sounds that almost sounded like voices, but they couldn't talk, he knew, they were mindless, feral animals, even if they looked almost like him… And suddenly they were all around him, eyes glowing and teeth bared, crouching on all fours, hissing and growling. The swamp, crawling with Goblins, the very same had seen in the subconscious of Arkence, the swamps of his past…

 _The insane laughter…_

Styx woke up again, covered in sweat.

This time, he had not woken Maera, she was still sleeping peacefully by his side. Styx's head felt like an anvil. Cursing quietly, he crawled out of the bed, careful not to wake her after all. This was no use, if he went to sleep again the dream would continue, and he really had enough of this shit. He forced himself to push the memory of his dream aside, he really didn't want to think about it further. Styx didn't wait for the sun to rise. Pressing a gently farewell kiss on Maera's crown and patting her butt one last time, he gathered his gear, jumped out of the window and went straight for his next target.

* * *

A few days later, Styx returned from his mission. He was not in the best state, since he had slept quite badly the last few nights, and his head felt like a fucking wagon's gone through. He really looked forward to see Maera again, smell her wonderful, calming scent, let her heated embraces take away his tension. She always felt like a remedy to him, and with his nightmares getting worse over the last days, he could really use some comfort.

Styx got in the Library unseen, climbed in the rafters and quietly made his way to the ancient poetry section. Soon, he had spotted Maera reading on a desk. Deciding to surprise her, he got ready to jump down to land behind her, when suddenly Roderick came around a corner.

Styx hesitated, watching, eyes wide and ears pricked.

Roderick went over to her, touching her shoulder slightly. She smiled at the human and they started talking. Styx was too far away to hear what they were saying, but it must have been something funny, because Maera laughed. Roderick sat down next to Maera, unfolding a manuscript. He pointed to some shelf, as if he needed some scroll from there, and seemingly Maera went over for him to get it. She had to climb up a small ladder and bend forward to reach the scroll, which made her slim waist and wonderful ample rear look most tempting. Styx realized with a disgusted gasp that Roderick stared at her body with unhidden desire. Apparently, that dickhead only had told her to climb up there to get a better view of her backside. It took all of Styx's self control not to leap down on the human and slash his throat in one smooth movement. Instead, he stayed in the rafters, watching from the shadows, getting angrier and angrier with every moment that Rodrick was close to Maera. Since Styx had already spent much time in the Library, reading and helping her organize the scrolls, he knew where he could climb down further and finally he was able to understand what they were talking about.

"Look, dear colleague, I found another segment of Sappho's love poems!", Roderick said, leaning over to Maera, pointing to a passage in a manuscript. "She compares the beauty of princess Antigone to a summer sunset's soft glow, and her scent to a field of wild roses at dawn."

"A very powerful section, I've already read that one", Maera replied. She had to lean closer to him to see the passage in the manuscript, and Styx couldn't but notice that Roderick intentionally put his stupid handsome face closer to hers. He felt sick.

"I must say, all this doesn't even remotely serve to describe you", Roderick said. Maera laughed as if Roderick had made a random joke and returned to her own work.

"What the fuck is he thinking?!", Styx muttered to himself in his hideout, boiling with rage.

Later that afternoon, Roderick left and Styx took his chance to jump down and talk to Maera.

"Styx! It's so nice to see you again!", Maera greeted him happily, running over to him to embrace him. Styx refused her hug.

"Why the fuck is that asshole talking to you like that? Who does he think he is?!"

"Styx, please, calm down. I know he is a little... flirty sometimes, but that's just amusing to me. Don't get so angry about that, just ignore him. I ignore that too."

"But..."

"No _but_. Just leave him be. Don't you want to take care of something more... entertaining, now that you're with me? Nobody's going to be here for the next two hours, just us two...", Maera said softly, stroking his chest. Styx wanted to say something else, but he hesitated when he felt Maera's body pressing close to his, inhaling her scent. She ran her warm tongue across his neck and he shivered helplessly. Maera slid a hand down his belly into his pants to stroke him gently, which broke what was left of his resistance. Groaning hoarsely, he closed his eyes, indulging in the heat that shot through his veins when her deft hands sped up their movements. Quickly, he stripped her out of her robes. Styx pressed her against a shelf, kissing her passionately, his tongue curled against hers, but even when Maera was breathlessly moaning into his ears when he entered her, he could not forget how greedily Roderick had stared at her.

* * *

In the following days, Maera had to work a lot and Styx roamed the Library on his own, reading and watching the town from the lofty rooftops. Even though he did all he could to not think about Roderick, he ended up following him, watching whether he would talk to Maera again. And that asshole did just that, he flirted and made compliments and was the biggest lickspittle the world had ever seen. Seeing the two together hurt Styx in a way he never experienced before. He sensed that something was wrong with this guy, even though Maera insisted that he was harmless. Styx's head throbbed with pain every time he imagined the two together, and finally he got so obsessed with Roderick that he stalked him, watching every step he did from the shadows. Finally, Maera started to feel that Styx was constantly in a bad mood, and wanted to sort that matter out with him.

"Why the hell are you always pissed lately? Is it because Roderick talks to me every now and then?", she asked him after they had their supper.

" _Every now and then_? He follows you like a fucking dog! Why do you tolerate that?", Styx snapped back.

"Why should I not? It's not like he's hurting anyone with that", Maera huffed. "Styx, why can't you just leave him be? He is just being polite."

"I know there's something fishy with that asshole! You shouldn't let him talk to you like that!"

"Oh, for fuck's sake, I'm not a child, Styx. You can't tell me what to do and who to talk to. I already said, I don't care about Roderick, so why can't you do the same?"

Styx knew no answer to that.

He retreated a little from Maera, since his nightmares had gotten so badly over the last days that he feared he might disturb her when he started from his sleep in the middle of the night. The lack of proper sleep and the tiredness started to show, and sometimes, even when he was awake the voices were haunting him.

 _You should forget about her, Rakash_ , a voice whispered. _What would she want with a dirty rat like you if she can have a sophisticated, handsome man like him?_

Styx told himself to shut up, but it didn't help.

Maera was so annoyed with his behavior that Styx had almost given up stalking Roderick, until one evening, when Styx overheard him talking to another Librarian. As usual, the Goblin was hiding in the rafters, peeking down on the human as he stood next to his colleague, casually arranging some quills in a jar.

"What's new?", the other one, a skinny, slimy guy, asked Roderick.

"Well, I might have gotten closer to my goal!", Roderick answered. "The sexy Dragonelf gave me a blink when I helped her with the translation of Menander's scrolls lately. She wants me, I know that."

"She most certainly does NOT, you piece of shit!", Styx grumbled quietly to himself in his hideout. Roderick continued.

"Normally, I'm not into girls that short, but her huge juicy ass kinda makes up for that."

"Yeah, she's quite hot for a non-human, if she doesn't open her mouth", the other guy said, "You gonna screw her?"

"Soon. I just hope she doesn't fall in love with me, it's so hard to take her annoying chitchat."

"Oh yeah, totally! Does she ever stop swearing?"

"You know, that's something you can't avoid when you pick up girls. You gotta act like you're really interested in what they're babbling to get them laid. And then I'll drop her like a dirty towel." Roderick laughed nastily, and the other one chimed in.

Up in the rafters, Styx's emotions went in two _very_ different directions. On the one hand, he was triumphing like crazy, as he finally had the proof that Roderick was a total asshole. On the other hand, Styx was so angry he would have loved to just jump down on him, rip out his tongue and paint the walls of the library with his blood. He controlled himself and immediately ran back into Maera's chamber to tell her what he just heard.

He found her working in her laboratory. He came running to her and told her everything that had happened excitedly, carefully emphasizing the fact that Roderick was the biggest piece of shit in the world. To his surprise, Maera reacted annoyed.

"Styx, please! Not that topic again."

"What? Don't you believe me?"

"I can't believe that you are so overly jealous that you are getting obsessed like this! Do you want to force me to ignore him? You are acting like I'm your property! But guess what, I can decide for myself who I talk to. And I enjoy getting compliments!"

"But... I also make you compliments!"

"We have barely talked for the past weeks because you were so obsessed with Roderick!"

"I've slept badly. I didn't want to disturb you", Styx grumbled.

"And I would have loved to help you with that, you know that! But you spent every waking second stalking Roderick!"

"I just don't like the way he's looking at you. He wants to use you, I heard him say it!"

"Well, if that was the case he is currently using me for supporting our research. How _terrible_ of him. Why do you think you can ban me from getting compliments from another guy? Because I might like what he says? Because I might flirt back?"

Hearing her says those words made Styx's heart skip a beat. His stomach felt like a glowing piece of ember.

"You can't do that", he said hoarsely.

Maera's eyes lit up with anger. "Why not, Styx? WHY?", she yelled.

"But Maera, we are... We... I…"

Styx desperately fumbled for words. He didn't know why it hurt him so badly when she spoke to Roderick, or at least he wasn't able to put it into words. Even thinking about it made his head throb with pain.

Maera threw her hands up desperately.

"That's the point! _What are we_? Friends? Fuck buddies? Or are we more than that? _Tell me_!"

"I..." Styx had never felt so lost in his entire life. "I don't know. I just don't like it."

With that, the anger suddenly faded from Maera's eyes, and sorrow replaced it. Her fierce expression faltered, leaving her look tired and sad.

"In that case... I guess it would be better if you think about this for a while, and come back when you've made up your mind."

For a second, Styx struggled desperately to reply something, but then he just surrendered to the pain, turned around and shuffled away to the window. Maera looked at him leave, then turned around to her desk, wiping her eyes.


	7. VI

Did you know... There are PICTURES of Maera, in case you were wondering what a Dragonelf looks like. A lovely associate of the project on DeviantArt has made protraits of her. Just look up Maera on DA and check her out.

* * *

VI

Arkail soon noticed the absence of Inquisition's agents in the woodlands around the village his clan lived in. He had returned to his family, to his wife and son, together with Marhlok, his father. Normally, hordes of agents would spy around and question human villagers in the surrounding lands, but never get close enough to the Orcish villages to detect them. Ark knew he was sought after, like every leading member of the rebellion was, but the Inquisition was weakened, and the Orcs were careful. They knew this land, breathed its air and drank its water, it was in their blood and souls. He was back home, and the Inquisition was at a disadvantage. The weirder it was that the agents seemed to have disappeared over the last weeks. Even though he thought that it was a step strange to comprehend, he was not unhappy about it. It gave the Red Breath clan the chance to reorganize and form an assault detachment towards the wall to free the remaining slaves from places the rebellion had not reached yet. He sometimes wondered what his buddy Styx was doing, or Arkence, the mage. He just knew she survived the rebellion and had gathered the last mages to revive their order, but he didn't know where she was. Styx was probably doing just fine, surviving, as was his biggest talent. Yet, the Orc often thought about seeing him again, to introduce him to his family and talk about old times. Maybe one day. For now, Arkail's focus was on freeing his kin.

* * *

Styx cowered on the point of a ledge that poised over the city far below, shrouded in the shadowplay of the last rays of the evening sun. Half of his body was covered in the shades, his tattoo glowing faintly.

He had really tried to stay away from the Library for some time, but he just couldn't. Instead, Styx kept stalking Roderick and Maera as well, still worried about her and what that son of a bitch might do to her. Sometimes he sneaked after the human, sometimes after the Dragonelf, and the latter not only because he was worried, but also because he desperately missed her company and longed for the sweet pleasures she could give him.

Not only for that. He also longed for seeing her smile…

 _Forget her, Rakash_ , a nasty voice inside his head said.

Styx frowned down at the maze of crooked lanes and ramshackle buildings of the city as the sun disappeared behind the horizon. The shadows grew thicker, hiding the labyrinthine old alleyways and roads deep down in darkness, covering it in a faint golden hue.

 _You've had your fun with her, but now that's over. She's found a prettier toy to play with, so move your ass and kill something._

 _It's not only because of the fun. I miss talking to her. I miss her voice_ , Styx told himself.

 _You only miss the fucking. Forget it. Compared to a handsome, intellectual gentleman, a rat like you will always lose out. It was just a matter of time, and you knew it, Rakash_ , the voice snarled. His head throbbed with pain as it rang between his ears. Styx forced himself not to question the origin of the voice. Not to think about it, just ignore it, bury it deeply in the muddy back of his mind with all the other horrible mental waste. Styx breathed heavier, gazing down at the fainting orange light. It almost looked like Amber dust.

 _No, that's not it…_ , Styx thought. _I need her. She helps me. She feels good._

 _Rakash… You never needed anybody. You don't need anybody now. You are a survivor, and you take lonely any time. Don't show any weaknesses! You've already acted way too wimpy in her presence, it's disgusting! Do us a favor and forget this useless bitch. She doesn't give a shit about you._

The voice sounded almost enraged, making his headache worse with every angry word. Styx felt like his head was wrapped in wool, and swayed a little. The maze of the old town blurred, got closer. He almost lost his footing on the ledge, and with a gasp he got a grip on himself.

The sun had set, the golden hue faded away. Darkness covered the world, and his tattoo shone brightly.

Styx shook his head.

 _No. It's not that easy_ , he thought. _I don't care what she might think about me. I gotta protect her._

The voice inside his head laughed insanely.

 _Fool_.

* * *

Styx continued stalking Roderick and Maera for quite a few days, always watching their steps from the shadows, with a burning pain in his body whenever he saw them together. Roderick was the world's biggest asshole just as usual. Maera seemed to be sad most of the time. Even though it also made Styx sad he hoped with all his heart that it was because she missed him, but more likely because she was still angry with him.

Styx pondered over and over again what he had done wrong and why he was being treated so unfair, and the nightmarish voice told him to be angry with Maera in return for being such a naïve idiot. Deep inside, though, he knew exactly why she was so angry, and he could understand her frustration. She wanted him to come clear about his jealousy and their relationship instead of blaming her for doing things she had every right to do. As if it was that fucking easy. Thinking about this made Styx's head hurt, and the raging voice reached a volume that made him want to slam his face against the wall.

He was very aware of the fact that Maera was not bound in a relationship and technically free to do whatever she wanted. Styx was pretty sure that it wasn't about Roderick being attractive to her, it was about the _principle_. At least he desperately hoped so. Concerning flirting, the same went for Styx, he also could get himself a bunch of girls if he felt like it. Apart from the fact that he would probably, no, _most certainly_ never find another person like Maera, Styx didn't want to. He wanted no one else. But he couldn't talk about this mess inside his head with Maera. It was chaos.

Styx knew that hiding in the shadows like a total nutcase didn't make the situation any better, but he couldn't think of another thing to do. He didn't want to address the Roderick-matter again to not make Maera any angrier, but he also couldn't do what she wished for. He couldn't put into words what was going on inside of him, he just knew that seeing Roderick with her set alarm bells ringing in his head and made his blood boil with fury and fear. Fear to lose her. Styx knew that he had to watch over Maera, or else something bad was going to happen. His sharp instincts told him to keep a keen eye on her and that asshole Roderick, even if that meant to crawl through the rafters like a rat while that dickhead was hitting on her.

After some days of silent prowling, watching and cursing, Styx's worst nightmare seemed to become true: Roderick invited himself over to have supper with Maera, and she accepted.

Quiet as a short, ragged gargoyle, Styx watched from the rafters of Maera's chambers as the two were eating and chatting at the very same table that he and Maera normally sat at. Roderick did most of the talking, being an arrogant asshole, as always. Styx had been worried that Maera and him might be getting into more suggestive topics, but to his great relief Maera seemed to just have looked for some distraction. Roderick tried to flirt in such a slimy way that Styx was tempted to throw up at more than one occasion, but luckily Maera did not chime in. He didn't know what he would do if she did. Loose his mind, probably.

Even though Maera did not flirt back for now, Styx sensed danger. It got later, and the sun went down, and Roderick stayed and stayed, babbling on about how awesome he was and how pretty Maera looked. Boiling with rage and anxiety, Styx sat and waited for Roderick to leave. Finally, Maera stood up.

"I'm going to bed now, if you don't mind", she announced.

Up in the rafters, Styx gave a sigh of relief.

"Oh, quite the contrary, hottie", Roderick said. "I don't mind you to go first, it gives you the chance to change into something more... _form-fitting_ than those unflattering robes. If you were wondering, I have a thing for pink lingerie. I'll join you shortly after and attend to you with all my burning passion." The human stepped up to her and firmly grabbed her hand, stroking her cheek with his index finger. Styx almost lost it in his hideout. What the fuck was he thinking?!

Maera looked puzzled.

"Roderick, are you trying to get me laid?"

"What... Of course, most beautiful flower that ever bloomed north of the Wall! I couldn't but notice the way you were looking at me since we met the first time, the longing, hungry gaze in your wonderful eyes whenever I was close to you... I felt how much you wanted our bodies to entwine in all-consuming passion. And I will grant you that wish and satisfy you in a way you've never experienced before!", the human answered dramatically.

It took all of Styx's self control to not leap down between them, beat the shit out of Roderick, shove his tongue down his throat and cut him into tiny strips with his dagger. He knew exactly that if he got seen now, Maera would know that he had been stalking her all the time and she would probably be so disappointed that she never spoke to him again. It was her choice alone, she didn't want him to control her, and surely she didn't have to explain herself and who she slept with since she was not bound in a relationship... Styx knew that, that was part of why she got angry with him in the first place. And yet, Styx remembered the utterly sad look in her eyes when he had failed to get clear about everything. She had hoped for a certain answer, and he had disappointed her. Styx wasn't sure if she had been hurt enough to see him off forever, if she even cared to see him again. If so, she might be interested in another man to warm her bed, just as he had feared, even if it was a total dick like Roderick.

If Maera refused the human, it would mean that she probably still wanted Styx to be with her. If she accepted Roderick's offer... Styx had failed, and lost her. Maybe. Maybe not. It was so damn confusing. Styx experienced a pain worse than anything he had ever felt in his entire life, ripping him apart from the inside. All he could do was wait helplessly for her decision, swearing quietly and desperately hoping that Maera refused that asshole's offer. He didn't know what to do should she agree with Roderick. He didn't know whether he could bear the pain.

"Roderick, I was always flattered by your compliments, but I never expressed the wish to sleep with you. Sorry to say that, but if you got the impression that I wanted to, you were mistaken. The answer is no", Maera said politely and pushed his hand away.

Styx was so relieved he almost couldn't handle the emotional ups and downs he was going through right now. Excitedly grinning and ears pricked with tension, he waited for Roderick's response. The human made a mortally offended face.

"What... You _refuse_?!"

"Yes. I don't want to."

"Wha... NOBODY ever turned me down, you hear that?!", he shouted angrily.

"Well, looks like I'm the first woman with some taste. I'm not that easy to have, by the way. If you'll excuse me, I'll go to sleep now. Alone", Maera said firmly, turning away.

"You know very well that you want me!", Roderick growled, reached forward and grabbed her arm. "I am heir to the Lord of Mezdé and you should be _thankful_ that I care about you, greenskin!"

"The hell... Let go of me!", Maera shouted, twisting in his grip.

"Shut up, bitch!"

He hit her across the face.

Maera gasped with pain and shock. Roderick rudely wrenched her to the floor while she desperately tried to wriggle free.

 _Something_ dashed down from the rafters and knocked the human to the ground.

Everything they saw was a glimpse of a shadow, and Maera's arm was free and Roderick lay on the ground with the most pissed Goblin in the world sitting on his chest, beating the hell out of him.

"You fucking son of a bitch! For fuck's sake, I swear if you get your slimy hands on my Maera just one more time, if you even get _close_ to her just one more fucking time, I'll turn your pathetic life into hell until you wish you've never been born! You hear me? _Never_!"

Styx kept hitting and cursing, explaining Roderick _very_ vividly that even thinking of Maera again might just be the last thing he ever did.

Maera had recovered from the shock quickly. As she was sure that Roderick wasn't going to harm her again, she asked Styx to stop, as she wanted to talk to him herself. Standing in front of the cowering human as blood ran from his nose, she glared down at him with a disgusted expression, her eyes burning with fury.

"Stand up, asshole. I'm very disappointed, I thought you actually were a notable researcher one could work with, and not some fucking skirt chaser that treats women like shit. Now tell me, why did you think I'd want you in my bed?"

Roderick staggered a little, but made it to stand upright. His face looked pretty bad and, more importantly, the arrogant glitter had vanished from his eyes.

"Damn, that cruel _monster_ … I… Maera, you know you are quite attractive, and you signaled that you were interested in me", Roderick finally said feebly.

"And why the fuck did you think I'm that easy to have?", she asked coolly.

"Well… Isn't it obvious? When I heard that this... _thing_ there… " He made a quick step to the side when Styx glared at him angrily. "… was sharing your bed sometimes, if that is even true, I thought you might be open for somebody more... You know. Somebody more decent and handsome to match your taste. You deserve someone better."

Styx shivered with disgust and anger, but when Maera raised a finger he reined back his fury.

"Let me get this straight... You thought that I had a bunch of terrible one-night-stands with Styx and since you believed that it might be disappointing for me, you were so noble to make overtures to me in order to prove how much greater in bed you are, and me talking politely to you was enough to convince you I'd agree?", Maera asked slowly, raising one brow.

"Erm... Yes?"

"Styx, cut off his nose and stuff it in his gob."

"Oh, you fucking bastard, I'm gonna enjoy this...", Styx growled feral and drew his dagger. Roderick went even paler.

" _Wait_! Wait, don't, please let me explain... Maera, you are being unfair! I mean, what that ragged monster does with you is just exploiting you! He wants to get in bed with you, to fulfill his bestial needs! He's only with you to use you for making out. I mean, just look at him for a second! He's an animal, driven by an animal's desire! So why are you even angry with me when I just tried to improve things for you? I would have been gentle and passionate, and _clean_ , besides, and you would never forget a night with me…"

Styx lost it.

"What the hell are you even thinking, asshole? You know NOTHING about me, or Maera, or us! Nothing! You just want to abuse her 'cuz she's a fucking _beauty_! For fuck's sake, you hit her, you arrogant son of a whore! You _hurt_ her! I would never even _think_ of hurting her! I enjoy just being near her and listening to her voice or watching her read just as much as I enjoy having sex with her. So don't you fucking tell me I was using her, that's what _you_ wanna do! You only see her pretty body! Maera is the most interesting, warmest and most wonderful person I've ever met in my entire life and you shallow-brained son of a whore just don't see it!", he yelled.

As Styx was ranting on, Maera just stared at him unbelieving, stunned with emotion. Styx suddenly realized what he was doing and stopped abashed. He saw her expression, and their gazes locked. The two looked at each other in awkward silence and Styx could almost _feel_ the unspoken words hanging between them. He forgot to breathe, frozen with shock.

What the hell had he just said? It had touched her deeply, he could see that in her eyes. There was a fiery glitter behind the dark hazel color, the very same one he had seen in them in their first night, when they had started talking, when Maera had kissed him for the first time.

The look they exchanged spoke volumes, Styx felt, but they were written in a language he couldn't understand. Still, a warm, fluttery feeling of affirmation filled him, making his head swim and chasing shivers down his spine. He knew he had not lost her.

After a few heartbeats that seemed like an eternity, Maera turned to Roderick.

"Styx, give me your dagger. Roderick, I'll say this just once, so listen closely. You'll get the fuck away right now and better never talk to us again, or I'll cut your pathetic little prick off and stuff it in your arrogant stupid face myself, and I'm gonna enjoy it", she said softly, her eyes burning with the wild angry fire Styx had already seen on her. He had to grin, despite himself.

Roderick lifted his hands in defense, white with panic, and ran away without looking back. When he was gone, Maera turned back to Styx, tears in her eyes.

"Oh Styx... I'm so sorry..."

Styx didn't say anything. He just walked towards her and took her in his arms, pressing her close. She buried her face in his hood. Styx closed his eyes and deeply inhaled the scent of her hair, incredibly glad and relived that she was with him again.

"I don't know how I could mistrust you... You knew it all the time, and I was too haughty to see how badly that guy wanted to treat me. I was such a bloody asshole to you, Styx. Can you ever forgive me...?", Maera sniffed.

"I thought that I'd lost you, my beauty", Styx said quietly.

"You certainly haven't. Quite the opposite."

He smiled and pulled her closer, feeling the rise and fall of her chest as she was breathing, feeling her unusually warm skin under her woolen robes. His tiredness was forgotten.

"I must apologize to you, Styx. I was... I was so _angry_ , and I..." She sighed, tears running down her face. "I guess when you told me what to do, I took it the wrong way. Can't stand it when I'm told to do stuff without explanation why. I wanted to know why you reacted like that. I wanted to know what… How you think about all this, about _us_. You never tell me why you do something, Styx, or what you feel."

"I'm not good at that kind of stuff, I admit. In fact, I kinda suck at that. Feelings and all that shit can be... unsettling for me", Styx said. "But I can tell you that I'm SO not sorry for stalking you. Watching you bathe is really nice. Quite a sight. Kept me from feeling lonely for a while."

She laughed at that.

"You wouldn't have slept with him, would you…?", Styx asked reluctantly.

"What, that arrogant little snob? I'd rather eat a cockroach. No, I just thought that when I ignored his flirting, he was kinda entertaining to talk to. Working becomes more enjoyable when you get along well with your colleagues. But let him in my bed? Never even thought about it", Maera laughed. Then her expression softened. "You should know that I have a different kind of taste."

"And that makes me the luckiest bastard on the continent", Styx replied. On the inside, he cheered with relief and triumph. Maera put her hands on his chest, avoiding his gaze.

"I know you don't like talking about that and if it's so hard for you, I won't bother you with it. But... Just tell me: What you said to Roderick about me... Was it the truth?"

Styx hesitated, his thoughts swirling through his head like snowflakes. Had he really been himself when he had his outburst? He felt the uncomfortable pounding again and struggled to ignore the raging voice piping up. Then he looked at Maera's beautiful eyes with that hidden glimmer, the lips that he had grown so fond of, her smooth green skin. The way it felt to embrace her. The way hearing her voice chased away his weariness like the morning sun melted the mist. He was so relieved that she was finally safe again, that she still wanted to spend time with him... Styx felt a lot of things for Maera, a hell of a lot. He just couldn't tell what to call that mingle-mangle, that chaos in his head. He had never felt like this for anyone else, never in his long life. And he had never met somebody that seemed to feel the same for him, probably. It was new, and it was strange, and sometimes it fucking hurt and made him feel like he was losing his mind. And still, what he had told Roderick had been the utter truth.

"Yeah... I guess so."

Maera kept silent for a few seconds, as if she waited for him to say more. He couldn't, and right now he wouldn't, it was too much for him to handle. He quietly hoped that she would understand that.

To his relief, Maera seemed to sense how overburdened and confused he was, and just smiled. She leaned in to kiss him passionately, and Styx kissed her back, thankful for her silent understanding.

"I forgive you, little stupid. You're not angry with me anymore?", he asked.

"Of course not! You saved me from that slimy piece of garbage! Damn, his face when you were done with him was just _priceless_. My brave, strong, dirty, weird-smelling, swearing, _wonderful_ Rakash...", she said jokingly. Styx grinned, picked her up and the way he normally dragged corpses around and carried her to the sleeping room. She was laughing like crazy when he dumped her on the bed and placed himself over her, kissing her again. With a quick movement, Maera flipped him over and sat atop him, pressing the smooth curves of her body on him. She stripped Styx of his armor as quickly as she got rid of her robe. Their snickers turned into quick breathing and moaning soon enough, and then the two lost themselves in heated embraces, trailing the other's body with hands and lips and tongue. Later, when Maera twisted on Styx, crying out his name as she climaxed, he had forgotten about what happened that evening. Almost, that is, for he would never forget the way she had looked at him when he had told Roderick about his attitude towards her. He hoped with all his heart that Maera would remain patient with him, remain willing to have him by her side, for he didn't know if he would ever be able to put his feelings into words the way she probably wished for. If she felt the same way.

Styx looked at Maera sleeping naked beside him, draped across his chest with a content smile on her lips, and despite all he's been through in the past weeks, he felt genuinely happy with every fiber of his being.

* * *

Whenever somebody asked why Roderick of Mezdé had left the Library, he was told that due to an emergency in his hometown he had had to depart quickly. That's what his colleague Maera had been telling them at least and nobody really bothered why that annoying guy had disappeared. Some researchers noticed that Styx, the Goblin Maera spent so much time with, had been a lot more balanced and less grumpy than the weeks before, which made his presence in the Library quite enjoyable for the staff members that shared his kind of humor, so he was more than welcomed.

Roderick wasn't welcomed anywhere.

He had left the Academy as fast as he could when that furtive beast of a Goblin had threatened to kill him. That unthankful little slut Maera... Sure, giving her a little poke to remind her of who had the say might not have been his best idea, but really, he had had best intentions, and that arrogant bitch had turned him down like a random _common_. He should never have tried to pick up a Dragonelf, those people might look pretty tasty, but turned out to be real snobs afterwards. Humans were much easier to poach. And also cleaner. And less green. Swearing about that damn Goblin and Dragonelf and pondering about how unjust he had been treated by those filthy creatures, he wandered through the twisted shady alleys of the shantytown. It was raining, the sun had set behind the dark-grey clouds a while ago, and Roderick didn't know what to do. He could make his way back to his hometown, but something held him here. He couldn't endure this outrageous humiliation. His father, the Lord of Mezdé, would never accept him back if he knew what had happened. Roderick considered inventing a nice little story. Nobody had to know the truth... No, the family honor of Mezdé had been tainted by some inferior Goblin, and he, the heir to his Lord father, couldn't just take this offence. Plus, his bruises had swollen so badly that he barely dared to show his formerly beauteous face in public. He had to take revenge. Blood revenge.

It didn't take Roderick very long to find a way. When he was wandering around the most depraved corners and taverns of the town, he soon found the Inquisition's agents lurking in the shadows, questioning anyone who might know about their current targets. He had heard of them, and, to be honest, also admired them. Roderick had been a member of the Academy and therefore also supported the scientists and mages in their effort to help the rebellion, but deep inside, he had never agreed with the rebels. He appreciated the ideals of the Inquisition, the restrictions and curfews they enforced on those dirty Elves and other non-human scum. It made the life of so many honest, hard-working people a lot easier, with less of that strange green folk lurking around. Of course, he had had to hold his tongue in the presence of non-human Librarians and researchers. But now... Nothing stopped him from making contact with the Inquisition. He overheard some agents' talking, and finally one of them spoke about some Goblin they looked for.

Roderick approached two Inquisition's agents who were interrogating a ragged Dark Elf in some muddy side street.

"Excuse me, dear Sirs...", he started, but just a second later one of the agents pointed a dirk at his throat. Roderick raised his hands and shut up.

"What do you want? Who allowed you to disturb the Inquisition's business?", the agent asked. His voice sounded muffled and hissing behind the painted bronze mask he wore, his eyes glittering through the slits.

"I... I couldn't help but notice that you were talking about some Styx, if I am not mistaken and I..."

"Did you say _Styx_? What do you know about him?", the agent asked, now with excitement in his voice. The other agent, who looked just like the first one with his blue-and-red robes, the hood and the mask, kicked the Elf aside and joined, his dirk drawn.

"Tell us everything you know, in the name of his Highness the Bigot and the sacred Inquisition", he demanded.

Roderick sang like a bird. He told them about the Library, about Maera and Styx, and about how badly that monster had treated him, showing the agents the horrible wounds he had in his handsome face. They were less impressed by that than he would have wished.

"It was already known that the Academies support the rebel scum", one of the agents said. "There is nothing the Bigot will do about that right now. Not because he is not strong enough, but because his Highness has better things to do. What about Styx? Does he fit the description?"

"It's just that certain Goblin! There is no other Goblin able to speak, is there?", Roderick answered. The agents looked at each other.

"About that Dragonelf... What does she have to do with him?"

"I think the two are a couple. At least that would explain why that filthy rat dared to raise a hand against me, for I am known to be a marvelous duelist, but I didn't have my weapon with me, otherwise I would easily have killed that monster, and..."

"Silence. You think he feels something for her?"

"Disgusting, isn't it? I know, Goblins are known for their primal crudeness, but he seems to have at least a carnal interest in her, to satisfy his bestial desires..."

The agent raised a hand to silence Roderick once more, and exchanged a look with the other one. Roderick couldn't see anything they might exchange, for the masks hid their faces completely, and started to feel a little offended.

"That is all. You may leave now."

"But... Don't you think I deserve a little... reward? I am heir to the Lord of Mezdé, and I..."

"Silence! You may leave now." The drawn dirks made Roderick a little nervous.

"I was a researcher of the Academy! I know a lot about their contacts with the rebellion! I could be useful for the Inquisition, I know I could!", he babbled. The agents exchanged another hidden look.

"Come with us."

Roderick followed as the agents strode through the mud, their blue-and-red cloaks swirling behind, the red cross on them dancing like a bloody sword.

* * *

The Bigot was most pleased when he heard the news about Styx. Before, the Goblin had been like a shadow, always moving and never to be caught. Besides the Dark Brotherhood sanctuaries, whose locations where unknown, he had no fixed place to live in, which made it impossible to ambush him. Furthermore, he was more dangerous than any of his consultants would have guessed. Styx had already killed more agents and High Inquisitors than any other foe, besides the Butcher, maybe. It was not possible to capture him by direct approach, for he was quick, sneaky and very well skilled in the art of silent murder. Lying in wait in a hideout for him to come was not an option either, for he had no fixed hideout. But... The information that turncloak researcher had given them... With that knowledge, the Inquisition might have found a possible weak spot of Styx. A possible way to lure him in a trap. Make him come to them by himself, instead of wasting precious time and men hunting him.

"Bring me my chief gatherer", the Bigot demanded, standing in front of the large colorful window in the Grand Chapel. Moments later, the chief gatherer, the one he turned to when it came to special targets, entered, kneeling in front of the altar.

"Your Highness?", he asked, a tall man with a white beaked mask and red-and-white robes decorated with crosses. The Bigot turned around.

"Find me that Dragonelf named Maera, and bring her to me."


	8. VII

VII

The amount of Inquisition's agents frisking the city had been higher than ever in the past weeks, and the Dark Brotherhood and other organizations supporting the rebellion had become suspicious. Something unusual was going on, for even the search for Arkail, the Butcher, had been cancelled, as the spies in the streets reported. It meant that the Inquisition was planning something important, and therefore, something devastating. Agents of the Bigot, captured and interrogated by members of the Black Hand, confessed they were looking for a Goblin named Styx, who has been made their top priority target. The reasons for this remained oblivious, since the agents hadn't been told why exactly the Bigot suddenly cared so much for this Goblin and nothing else, and interrogating them further didn't help. Their order had been to find Styx, alive, no matter the cost. Because of that, the leader of the northern Dark Brotherhood, the ancient Dragonelf named Abbyss, asked Styx to stay out of sight a little.

"Dammit Abbyss, don't give me a time-out! It was just a matter of time until our dear Bigot sets his dogs on my track, party pooper that I am to the Inquisition. You know I can handle those assholes, they've always been hunting me", Styx had complained.

"They have, but not the way they do now. So _reckless_. They must not find you, Styx. I sense danger in that. They seem to be convinced that you are in this particular city, and right now it's too dangerous for you to stay here. I will give you a mission that takes you out of their reach for a while. When they don't find you while turning the city upside down, they'll start looking elsewhere, and it'll be safer for you again. You'll investigate and eliminate Candidus, a torturer. You'll find him in the western prison castle. It is as far away as you can probably get from this city, and so segregated that nobody will expect you to be there. The Inquisition won't look for you in their very own dungeons", Abbyss had said with that certain tone that allowed no backtalk. "You'll get the details later."

"Meh... Ah, shit. Fine. I'll do it."

"Of course you will."

* * *

Both reluctantly and excitedly, Styx returned to Maera. Deep inside, he was kinda happy to be sent on a mission into a place that was not crawling with guards that just burned to skewer everything that looked green. The prison castle was keen on keeping things inside, not outside, as nobody wished to get into this madhouse voluntarily. Except him, that is, so it would be easy game. Still, it was far up in the western mountains, secluded and windy, and thinking of the long way to reach it already made him shiver.

Together with Maera Styx prepared his mission, and it was a delight for him to spend some relaxing time with her before leaving.

"A torturer's dungeon? And you couldn't have convinced Abbyss to give you something less... gross to do?", she asked him, rummaging around in a shelf.

"Maera, you know what he's like... I'd never fuck with a Dragonelf, and Abbyss is a demon even when he's not angry. He thinks that there's something seriously fishy with the Inquisition, and when he senses danger, there's a shitload of trouble coming. I'll do it", Styx answered. Maera grinned.

"Don't you say you'd never fuck with a Dragonelf, liar", she teased. Styx laughed, sneaked up on her and gave her a slap on the butt. She threw a cork after him, chasing him away.

"Stop it, Rakash! What are you supposed to do anyway?"

"I have to investigate that Candidus in his dungeon, and find a lost artifact. A magical runestone the Inquisition stole from the mages. Might be locked up in the strong room. I have no fucking idea how to get in one of those things, last time I tried all my lockpicks broke."

"I think I know how...", Maera mused, turning to a shelf full of parchments and scrolls. "Let's see... Icerunes... Weatherspells... Firecharms... Ah, here we are." She picked out a small parchment and handed it to Styx.

"Oh great, a piece of paper! Why did I not think of that? I'll just use it to break the lock, that'll work", he said sarcastically. Maera gave him a punch.

"That's a firecharm, silly. There's a rune on the parchment that will inflame and burn through metal of any thickness as soon as the paper is placed on iron. Just stick it to the door with some spit and you'll have one door less", Maera explained proudly. Styx grinned at her impressed.

"You still keep surprising me, little beauty", he said, leaning in to kiss her. He carefully placed the rolled firecharm in his bag. Together they had already gathered some maps of the western mountain range, an assortment of poisons and potions, some food and a magical device that would point to a source of great energy, a so called thaumatometer.

"I assume the runestone you're looking for will be the most magical thing in the dungeon. This instrument will detect it ", Maera had explained. It was a fish-shaped piece of copper carved with runes and inlaid with a small soulstone, hanging from a chain. It turned and spun like a weathercock as Styx held it up, pointing here and there to Maera's other magical devices. He had carefully stuffed it in his bag.

"And how do you know the Inquisition is looking for you specifically?", Maera asked casually as she continued sorting through her papers.

"Some agent captured by Fox of the Black Hand was quite a chatty fellow. Sang like a bird. Apparently they are really keen on inviting me over", Styx replied.

"And why's that?"

"Hah, who knows what's going on in our dear Bigot's scatterbrain? Maybe they've simply come to the conclusion that I'm the biggest pain in the Inquisition's ass, and want to get rid of me."

"Have you been especially busy pestering them, lately?", Maera wanted to know, turning around.

Styx frowned. "Nah, not really. I mean, not more than usually."

"Then why the sudden interest in you?"

"Dunno. They're absolutely nuts, don't forget that."

"I... Styx, I want you to be very careful, you hear me?", Maera said with a sudden tone of worry in her voice. Styx turned to face her and saw how anxious she looked. "I don't like this. Something about this gives me the chills."

"Don't worry, beautiful, I'm a professional! Nah, don't gimme that sad look. Listen Maera, it might be a little tricky here and there, but I'll be back in no time and it's gonna be fine. You even gave me that fish-o-meter, how's anything gonna go wrong if I have one of those?", Styx said, hugging her. Maera smiled.

"You're right. I know you are the best, but somehow I have a bad feeling about this... Promise to take great care and come back soon, will you?", Maera asked him.

"I promise", Styx answered. He embraced and kissed her, and after that Maera seemed more relaxed. Nonetheless, Styx felt that Maera was worried for him, and so he did his best to comfort her. He knew he had to concentrate on this mission, for it would be very challenging even for him, but somehow he also felt a little anxious leaving Maera behind. He didn't want to leave her. He told himself to stop pondering and focus on what he had been ordered to do. One did not disobey Abbyss, by the way. Furthermore, the thought of being able to give a fucking torturer a taste of his own medicine promised to be a hell of a lot of fun. Still, Styx's survival instinct told him that this time, there was something different... Maybe he just didn't like the thought of having to spend his nights lonely, without Maera's warm curvy body beside him for so long. The wearing nightmares he had had over the troubles with Roderick had vanished, and he felt much more rested. The angry voice inside him had remained silent so far, especially with Maera being there for him to fill his days and nights with her presence again.

Styx pushed his thoughts away and continued gathering his equipment. When the sun went down, he and Maera ate supper together after having prepared everything for his departure, and ended up cuddling on her bed. The cuddling soon turned into hungry kisses and quick breathing, and shortly after they were both naked.

"Kiss me", Maera whispered with wide eyes, and Styx leaned over to do so. Maera was lying in front of him, with the Goblin on top. Styx did as she had asked him, and kissed her on the lips. Surprisingly, she put a finger to his mouth to stop him. Styx tilted his head, looking puzzled.

"Not there", Maera said with a seductive smile. Styx let his ears droop in confusion for a second. She glanced down her glistening body meaningfully, and he complied. He kissed her slender neck, her breasts with the tiny drops of sweat that had collected between them, her soft belly, slowly working his way down to her curvy wide hips. When Styx reached her abdomen area, he hesitated, not sure how to proceed.

"Have you never done this before?", Maera asked with an amused smile.

"Well, I've tried, kind of, but I've never really liked it, to be honest... Humans are gross, you know…", Styx answered carefully. "I don't like their smell and taste." Maera laughed.

"But I'm a Dragonelf, stupid! How do you like the taste of my skin? The taste of my tongue?", she asked.

"Better than any mead, beautiful", Styx replied grinning.

"You'll love it, I promise. Please, Styx...", Maera whispered, moving her legs apart a little more. Styx decided to give it a try. He kissed the soft insides of her thighs and smiled when he felt her tremble as he let his tongue glide across her skin. He slid one hand between her legs and carefully parted her lips, feeling strangely hungry as he watched. Every part of Maera was so delicate and beautiful, also her womanhood, which was a little more pinkish than the rest of her body, just like the tips of her long ears. Her skin was wet and glistening. Slowly, Styx put his face closer to the centre of her heat. Maera smelled quite nice there, so he fought back his hesitation and ran his tongue over that sweet spot. The effect was impressive.

Maera arched her back and moaned in sudden arousal, her hands clutching the blanket they lay on. Styx smiled and tried again, which made her moan with pleasure once more. Encouraged, he licked and kissed her womanhood, the soft skin around that area and especially the sensitive spot in the middle.

"And? How do you like it?", Maera asked, her breaths short and quick.

"Hmmm... tasty", Styx replied with a wide grin. He continued to hungrily run his tongue over her womanhood, gently sucking her sweet spot, careful not to hurt her with his sharp teeth. While he did so, he stroked her hips and thighs, and she caressed the area behind his ears with one free hand. He dipped his tongue into her sheath to taste her deeper, savoring the hot wetness inside her. Styx had to admit that Maera tasted delicious, and feeling her tremble and hearing her moan turned him on more than he could say. His had swum with arousal and his loins were so tense that it almost hurt, yet he didn't want to stop. Every stroke of his tongue made her moan wantonly, driven wild by his tongue's dance. Styx could have kept on kissing her between her thighs forever, but soon Maera reached her climax. Trembling, she bent her back and dug her fingers into the blanket, moaning with ecstasy while Styx continued licking her wetness. When she had come, Styx stopped and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, grinning widely.

Maera, eyes dreamy and breathing heavily, opened her arms for him to hug her. Styx leaned over her, propped up on his elbows, bringing his face next to hers.

"I'm so hard right now...", he whispered, kissing her ear. Feeling her climax in this completely new way had left him bursting with desire.

"I want you inside me, Styx", Maera whispered back with hungry eyes. He quickly entered her, kissed her, moved with her. Maera crossed her legs behind his back and received his thrusts, licking his neck. She rolled her hips, adapting to his movements, moaning again and purring in his ears. Her glistening skin smelled so heady and sweet it drove Styx wild, and the taste of her wetness on his lips added to that, making him growl quietly with lust. It didn't take him long until he climaxed as well, moaning raucously. His world fell to pieces but for Maera under him, and he felt only her and her lust and her sharp nails scratching his back as she came again.

The two lay on top of each other, trying to catch their breath. Styx knew he wasn't going to see her for a long while, and the more he enjoyed their time together. Sleeping in the back of some wet dungeon with one eye open and his ears pricked was the fucking opposite of the comfort he was experiencing now, and he intended to make the most of it. Styx buried his face in her hair and inhaled her scent. He wanted to separate himself from her, but she held him back.

"No. Please, stay like that, stay inside me", Maera whispered softly, her eyes all drowsy. Styx complied. He stayed joined with her, pulling a blanket over their bodies with his free arm to let her snuggle up to him and hold her close. He felt the wetness of her hips and a warm trickle run down one of his legs, his seed probably, while drifting in and out of consciousness. Soon, Maera's breathing became slow and regular as she lay sleeping between his sinewy arms. Styx blinked down at her messy hair, barely able to think, satisfied and tired as he was.

Before Styx had met her, he reflected drowsily, having sex was nice for him, but more or less something to fulfill a need he had, that presumably all beings had, the need for some carnal satisfaction. It sure was fun here and there, but afterwards he had felt worse than before in most cases, mainly because of the lack of people that were willing to go to bed with him, and also because Styx tended to quickly get annoyed by people in general. Whereas the first time he had shared a bed with Maera, it had felt _different_. Special, sort of. She actually wanted him to be close to her, and appreciated everything he said and did. Every time they had sex he found he got more devoted to it, and he caught himself enjoying it even more than the times before.

 _Will you please stop this sentimental bullshit? It's disgusting_ , the familiar voice piped up suddenly. Styx made a face. It was like hearing his own thoughts running loose, and he fucking hated it when that happened. He really needed some sleep.

 _She's giving me something I've never known I needed. It's… just nice_ , Styx told himself to calm down. Thoughtfully, he watched Maera sleep, her curvy silhouette under the blanket close to him, her peaceful face. He stroked her lips with one finger, which didn't wake her up, but made her mouth curl into a small smile. Despite himself, he had to grin, his heart beating faster.

 _Rakash, you fucking idiot! You got a mission to think about rather than her ass!_

 _Shut up_ , Styx thought firmly. In a way, the voice from the depth of his mind was right. Having his head in the clouds while thinking about Maera would only help getting him distracted, and distraction meant a knightly broadsword in his face. Sure, he was more than happy that she was safe from that asshole Roderick again, but still this mushy stuff was strange and stupid and he wouldn't have anything of it. He forced himself to lie down, concentrate on his mission and fell asleep soon after.

* * *

Styx woke with the breaking dawn. He gathered his gear and the bag with the poisons, the thaumatometer and papers, grabbed his dagger and made for the window. Outside, a member of the Dark Brotherhood in black and red leather armor was waiting on a huge grey griffin to take him to the torturer's castle far in the west. Before Styx went outside, he hesitated shortly. He went back to the bed where Maera was still asleep. He thought about waking her up to say goodbye once more, but she looked so peaceful that he didn't. Besides, he would see her again in a few weeks, maybe even earlier. They could talk again when he was back. He had to concentrate on that Candidus. He quickly snatched one of the strips of cloth that Maera used to tie back her hair from her desk, stuffed it in his belt, bent over her and softly kissed her on the forehead.

Styx left through the window, climbed on the back of the griffin and as the beast spread its huge grey wings and the morning wind tugged on his hood, he grinned with anticipation. Even though, he felt a little sad when he thought of Maera and that he had to leave her.

 _No._

He shook his head and signaled the other assassin to start. He would only see her again if he didn't fuck up, so it was in both their interests if he stayed grounded. He had to focus, just focus on the mission. Styx departed, not looking back.


	9. VIII

VIII

The dark shade of the castle appeared in the murky gloom of the valley. The towering walls were made of grey bricks larger than Styx, and higher than the Academy. On the merlons, large red banners with the Inquisition's cross flapped in the wind. The sun had just set behind the mountains, and a cold wind blew hazes of fog through the air. The slopes of the western mountain range were lead-grey as the darkening sky and ragged like a dragon's back, covered in patches of snow on the fissured tops. A long, steep pass lead over to the main entrance of the castle, a massive gate that appeared ridiculously tiny in comparison to the walls. They had been flying for four days, and Styx was so tired of the cold that he almost looked forward to infiltrating the giant prison.

The huge grey griffin landed on a projection on the eastern wing of the castle, its talons scratching the stone.

"I'll pick you up in one week. If you're not there, I'll wait three more days, not longer. Good luck, Styx. Remember: Keep your head down!", the other assassin said. Styx grinned.

"I'm as good as done. See you!", he answered. The griffin hissed and beat the air with its wide wings, and off they went.

Styx took a deep breath. He wouldn't get fresh air for quite a while and filled his lungs with the crisp, cold mountain wind as long as he still could. He drew his dagger, glanced around the grey walls, saw the guards crawling in the labyrinth of yards and walkways below. All those clueless fools. This was his element. With a furtive grin, he stroked the blade.

"Candidus, the torturer... You'll soon have a surprise invitee in your precious dungeon. Well... here we go", Styx muttered to himself, jumped down and caught an iron wall hanging while falling. He concentrated and opened his inner eye, used his instincts. He saw that below him, there were more hangings. He dropped down one by one, his thick leather gauntlets protecting his hands from the rusty iron, until he reached the floor of an old, wooden walkway. Styx sidled along the wall to a corner, were a guard stood. Another one was close by.

"Did you see the tits of that half-blood girl they brought in yesterday?", one of them said with a dirty laugh.

"Don't you lay your hands on her!", the other one snapped back.

"Why? 'Cause she's about fourteen?"

"No, because we're going to play at dice for her this evening. Equal chances for everyone", the other guard explained. Styx made a disgusted face, aimed carefully and tossed a throwing knife into one of the guard's neck, and before the other had seen anything, he had a jagged dagger drawn across his throat. Styx stuffed the corpses into a nearby chest and took a short rest, taking the chance to investigate his environment further.

As far as he could see, the castle itself, surrounded by a ring of massive stone walls, had only one large entrance, which was down in the lower yard and heavily guarded. A big-ass iron-studded wooden gate with spikes and portcullis. Nope, not if he could avoid it. He took out one of Maera's maps and aligned it with the view, glancing from the parchment to the castle and back.

"Ahhh... perfect!", he said to himself as he saw a narrow tunnel next to the door on the drawing, probably some sewer. He could see it down in the yard, a small barred entrance, but there were at least ten guards nearby. Styx stuffed the map back into his pack and continued his way down.

He prowled through a maze of narrow walkways, careful to not make any creaking sound on the weathered wood. He had almost reached the bottom, when suddenly an Inquisitor strode around a corner.

"What was that? I think I heard something...", the man murmured, drawing his longsword.

Styx froze, and switched to his stealth stance, blending in the shadows. As long as he didn't get too close to that guy, he wouldn't see him. Slowly, the Inquisitor prowled along, looking in another direction, but getting awfully close to Styx. Styx quickly picked up a handful of dirt and tossed it on a nearby torch, and as the guard turned around he jumped up to him, closed his stringy arms around the Inquisitor's neck and held him headlocked. The Inquisitor squirmed and struggled in his grip, but it didn't help him. The next time he breathed in, Styx twisted his neck around with all his strength. It gave a crack, and he dropped dead. Cursing quietly, Styx took one of the acid vials out of his bag and emptied it over the body to let it disintegrate smoking.

Styx went on and finally climbed down to the yard. Carefully, he hid behind a couple of boxes and peered around. He was almost there, just a little further. Ten guards were patrolling the area, two of them were checking a large wooden wagon with a cage on top, probably some new prisoners. Styx gave a disgusted grunt as he saw that most of the prisoners were young women, different kinds of Elves and humans that looked a lot like mixed-bloods. He considered getting on the wagon for a second, but if the wagon would be carried straight to the cells, he'd be trapped. No, he was going to take the sewer.

It was getting darker, and torches were lit everywhere on the walls of the castle, which made it look like a sky full of fiery stars from below, with a pitch black circle up in the middle were the ring of walls opened to the cloudy dark sky.

Styx waited until one of the guards got too close to his hideout, snatched him and slit his throat in one smooth movement. He stuffed him in a box and made for the sewer entrance. Carefully, he avoided the guards, hid behind pillars and crates, and for his short stature nobody ever saw him. It smelled of smoke, blood and cold stones, and his long sensitive ears pricked every time he heard heavy footsteps coming closer. Eventually, Styx reached the small entrance to the tunnel next to the door and vanished inside. The tattoo on his shoulder lit up brightly. It gave him a feeling of safety, since he knew the shadows embraced and hid him.

He followed the narrow tunnel for a while, until it opened into a large, dimly lit room made of stone. It seemed to be a kitchen, by the look and smell of it. There were just a few servants and chefs busy, and Styx took the chance to hide behind a pile of crates to take another look at Maera's map. He knew now where in the castle he was exactly, and even if it was still quite a bit of distance to the dungeon, it seemed that lots of corridors, funnels and sewers diverted from the kitchen. A pretty good base, for a start. He decided to use it as a hideout to return to after having explored the area. Styx grinned, stored the map away and went to fetch himself some supper.

* * *

Sleep wouldn't fucking come.

Grunting with frustration, Styx turned to his other side. He was lying on top of some bags of flour in the back of an unused store room that he had barred with a heavy log from the inside, and as small and dusty it was, it offered some safety and shelter for him. With his short stature, he didn't require much space, and this was certainly better than the wet rocky floor of some prison cell. Even though Styx felt sore and tired, he wasn't able to fall asleep. Part of him blamed it on the damn stink in all the different sewer pipes and funnels he had been exploring before making camp in the abandoned store room behind the kitchen. Not really something to calm one's nerves.

Another part blamed it on the absence of Maera.

 _Rakash, get your shit together! You've done this for centuries, so what's your problem now?_ , the angry voice inside his head asked. Styx closed his eyes when he felt his aching head throb. He could almost _smell_ the muddy water as images of his past, or at least the shitty nightmares he had so often, flowed through his mind, images of the swamp filled with Goblins. Images of a face that resembled his like his reflection in a tarnished, cracked mirror. Blinking angrily, he pushed all his thoughts away.

"For fuck's sake, sleep now. Maera is safe and sound back at the Library, feeding Bryn and poring over books", Styx muttered quietly. His long ears pricked up as he heard footsteps outside the store room.

Jumping to his feet and grabbing his dagger, he sneaked to the door, ready to either run and hide or defend himself.

He heard somebody step up to the door, saw the shadow of two boots under the frame as if some human was standing in front of the room, listening carefully. Styx held his breath. The human snorted.

"Hrmpf. Must be a rat", the man rumbled. Styx heard him pick up something heavy, and then he left again. Sighing with relief, the Goblin leaned against the wall. So much for his attempt at getting some sleep. He was hopped up on adrenalin, his heart beating frantically. If that servant, or whoever he was, had seen Styx, his entire mission might have been screwed, and his transport back to the city would still be away for at least a week. He really wasn't keen on hiding from a hundred guards. Only as long as they didn't know that he was here, he was safe.

Styx fumbled on his belt absentmindedly, and his fingers suddenly brushed along soft fabric. He pulled it out and looked at it. He grinned with surprise when he recognized the hairband he had taken from Maera's desk just before he left. He had almost forgotten about it, but now he turned it in his bloodstained hands, examining the strap of soft, dark brown wool Maera sometimes used to tie her dreadlocks in a braid. Before he knew it, Styx lifted the hairband up to his nose and inhaled her scent that still clung to it. He closed his eyes with enjoyment. It smelled so wonderful that pictures of her smile, of her messy, silver blond hair filled his mind immediately. Maera kissing him, leering at him while he stripped her down, her eyes black with desire. The scent of the small piece of cloth was enough for him to be reminded of how her glistening neck smelled when he moved inside her, with her winding under him.

This should help.

 _Don't you even think about it, Rakash_ …

 _Shut up_ , Styx thought firmly, and reached into his pants.

* * *

For five days, Styx roamed the castle, exploring the dungeon levels as well as the upper levels for the best routes and secret passages. He wanted to make sure that he would be well prepared to get away quickly after having killed Candidus, without any incidents. The damn store room still was as comfortable as a barrel of scorpions compared to Maera's bed, but thinking of her had at least helped him to get over his nights without bad dreams. Something about this place gave him the creeps as well as his constant irrational worry about Maera, but after all, he was still in the largest prison castle the Empire had to offer, trying to steal a magical knickknack from a professional torturer's dungeon. Not too surprising that he was more than just a little tense. Styx made sure he was well familiar with the environment, and eventually, he felt ready to pay a visit to his target.

Styx left the kitchen, crawled into an air vent and followed the long, narrow tunnel behind it. Blue glowing mushrooms grew from the wet stones, and he could hear the sounds of the castle muffled through the walls that enclosed him. The tunnel opened to a deep vertical duct. Styx dropped down to some wall hangings and made his way into the darkness. It got warmer the further down he got, the steam that rose from the dungeons below smelling heavy and stale. He kept climbing for a while, until he reached the lower prison level. Dexterously, Styx jumped across the duct to an opening that led to the dungeon.

The Imperial prison castle's dungeon was a huge open area with so many cells that it looked like the walls were made out of grills and nothing else. It was so murky that he couldn't see the ceiling even with his sensitive Goblin eyes. Wherever Styx looked, he saw spiky grids and heavy iron-studded doors, all shrouded in the unhealthy steam. The only light came from huge ovens and torches, and shadows danced everywhere. Styx hid behind a crate and picked up some more sand from a sack on the floor.

The prison reminded him of something that had happened long ago, and seeing the thousands of cells vanishing up in the dark stirred some vague memories in him. As if he had already been here, or in a place that looked almost like this. He knew he had forgotten large passages of his life, not only since he had learned so in the conscience of Arkence, the mage. After all this time, Styx still refused to accept all the bullshit his former self, that completely insane nutcase that looked like a nightmarish version of him, had been telling him. Well, maybe _some_ of it was true. And there was more, things his burned-out doppelganger hadn't mentioned, things he had long forgotten. The reoccurring nightmares of his past in the swamps, all of those mindless Goblins staring at him, flashbacks of some dark, labyrinthine place reeking of Amber dust, crawling with guards that were only there to hunt him down, the _voice_ … all of that shit surely had a meaning of some kind. There had been something in his past he couldn't wrap his mind around, and he had no desire to do so. Styx felt that the best way to handle this was to push it to the back of his mind, if he didn't want to go insane. It had kept him more or less healthy all those years, helped him survive. Maera had improved his mental state enormously with her affection, and Styx was thankful for that. Still, it was the opposite of comfortable whenever he felt that something reminded him of things he couldn't remember. It made his head hurt.

"I wonder what they burn in those ovens... No fucking cakes, by the smell of it...", he muttered to himself. Shaking his head, Styx advanced to what he thought to be the main torturer's chambers. He passed a few cells, tried to ignore the stench of blood and dirt and the screams and crying all around him. At least it muffled the sound of his footsteps on the slippery stones. He jumped up and closed the lid of a torch with a quick grip, and the darkness hid him. He used it to climb up a wooden pillar unseen and continued his way up in the rafters, watching the guards patrolling below. Soon, he reached a rusty iron door with the Inquisition's cross painted on in a bright red. Two heavily armored guards stood next to it, every once in a while taking a stroll. Styx cursed. Those assholes were way too densely covered with metal and plate, his dagger wouldn't help him. He peered around and grinned as he saw a bucket with drinking water close by. Styx jumped down, took cover behind a corner and made sure that no one saw him. He rose from his crouched position and seasoned the water with some poisonous Goblin spit. Then he went back up in the rafters, sat down comfortably and waited. Soon, the first guard went for a stroll and when he got to the back of the room, he drank a cup of the water. Styx counted to ten, and before the guard's body hit the floor, he caught him without making a noise. Styx carried it to the nearby closet and hid it, waiting for his next victim. After the other guard had died wheezing, Styx finally picked the lock, looking carefully left and right for possible visitors, and entered the torture's chambers.

The smell of rotten flesh and weird alchemistic potions was overwhelming.

"Phew...", Styx grumbled frowning. He hid under a table and observed his environment. The chambers of Candidus, the torturer, were dark and murky and had a low ceiling. The walls were stuffed with shelves full of books, jars filled with pink, slimy things swimming in alcohol, flasks, devices made of glass or copper, dried mushrooms and skulls. Somehow it looked like the gross opposite of Maera's comfy laboratory in the Library, with her charming mess of papers, vials and books, covered in the golden dusty sunlight that flooded her rooms under the roof. Here, the only light came from torches, burners and distillers. Narrow tables were overburdened with cut-up corpses, skeletons and piles of mushy stuff Styx didn't want to think about too much.

Suddenly, Styx heard footsteps. He narrowed his glowing yellow eyes and held still, waiting for the person to come closer. It was the torturer, Candidus. But he was not alone, unfortunately. An Inquisition disciple walked behind him, wearing the typical painted bronze mask.

"Have you fed him already?", the disciple asked.

"Not yet. I had hoped that if I cut his rations, he might be more cooperative. Lately, the usual methods didn't show any results, maybe he has gotten used to the pain", Candidus answered, his voice hollow behind the beaked mask he wore. His apron had been white one day, Styx presumed, but now it was mostly covered with red and brown stains up to his elbows.

"The Bigot has sent a message, he wants answers. The information about that Goblin can't be the only useful thing to squeeze out of that pesky Elf", the disciple said.

"I've broken the Elf once, I can break him a second time", the torturer answered offended. "If you'll excuse me, I have work to do."

"Very well. Just remember that the High Council will expect you in a couple of hours, and you better not disappoint their expectations."

The disciple left the room, while Candidus picked up a hooked knife and cut around in a pile of flesh on a surgical table.

In his hideout, Styx was groaning with agony.

His head hurt so badly he wanted to hit it against the wall. His ears rang, he almost couldn't see and he felt his blood pounding. The last headache this terrible he had experienced when he had met his former self in Arkence's mind. It felt like something was ripping his brain apart from the inside, with flashing dots dancing in front of his eyes. Why did this happen right now? Was it the talking between Candidus and the other guy? Did the torturer mention anything disturbing, anything that might have caused some kind of evocation of bad memories of his…?

Styx forced himself to stay calm, to breathe slowly, and thought of nice things. Payments, mead, and other, sweeter things... Maera's beautiful face showed up in his mind, her small hands pressed on his cheeks, talking to him in her soft, soothing voice. He desperately tried to picture her while she comforted him after one of his nightmares, not caring about the voice taunting him from the back of his mind. The pain didn't stop, but it was less insufferable. Styx blinked, exhaling slowly. It was probably just the mixture of rotten stench and alchemistic steams that he had been breathing in for too long. He still had a job to do, no time for acting wimpy.

Styx focused on his target. If the disciple was right and Candidus was being invited to a bunch of Imperial assholes in some hours, he had to hurry. It might be his last chance to take care of him while he was alone. Slowly, Styx approached the torturer, his dagger drawn. His feet didn't make any sound as he prowled forward carefully, his tattoo glowing dangerously. Then, with a sudden dash, he kicked the torturer in the knees, and as he collapsed Styx stabbed the dagger in his belly, pressed his foot on the man's neck and held him locked by one arm. With clenched teeth, Styx pushed the torturer's neck away until it broke. He plucked out the dagger and turned, observing his environment.

Nobody to be seen, just the corpses. Good. The next thing he had to do was finding the runestone. Styx took out the thaumatometer from his bag. The small fish-shaped piece of copper on the thread turned and spun in a circle. It was supposed to point to the greatest source of magical energy nearby, Maera had said, and that should be the rune Styx was ordered to steal back. The thaumatometer pointed quivering to a certain corner of the room, and Styx followed it. Back in the corner, a heavy iron door with a huge complicated lock towered above him. A tiny window was in the middle, with a flap to open it. Styx was too short to reach up and look inside.

"Well... This should be the place the fucking rune is hidden in... Either that or Candidus' favorite toy, together with some weird magical something. Better use the firecharm on this one, my lockpicks won't work...", he said to himself.

He took out the firecharm Maera had given him, and placed it on the lock. As soon as the parchment touched the iron, the rune on it inflamed and burned with a white, hissing blaze. Styx watched impressed how the iron melted away like wax in a campfire, dripping down in glowing drops. He took a few steps back, holding one hand above his eyes to shield them. A few moments later, a huge hole gaped where the lock had been. Styx grabbed a chair and pressed it against the door to not burn himself on the hot iron. The door opened, and Styx stormed inside, eager to pick up the rune and leave this shithole as fast as he could.

But there was no rune inside, there was a bleeding, tormented creature lying on the floor of a cell.

It was an Elf.

* * *

 _Emet... Creature of the Amber... You are the only one who can defeat Styx for us, and save the World Tree... Be reborn in the Amber..._

Styx's head spun and hurt as if it was going to burst as a painful wave of long forgotten memories rushed through his mind faster than he could take. Pictures emerged, the face of an Amber-Elf, with his pale skin and golden glowing eyes, shining brightly just as his own... Styx remembered a stinging pain in the back as something... No, _someone_ just like him stabbed him, leaving him behind to die alone, cast aside like a defective tool... A rush of anger filled him as Styx thought of that person, how much he had hated him... Hated him enough to do something so cruel, so reckless, that it had almost killed him... A gigantic golden tree, higher than every tree he had ever seen... That was before, before he was born, so long ago he wasn't even sure if it had been him...

 _Styx_...

The painful flood of reminiscences stopped as Styx heard himself scream. He had gone down to his knees, holding his head. He gasped for air, waiting for the pain to disappear. He took a deep breath as he desperately tried to regain his composure, chase away the disturbing images. He slowly lifted his head.

The Elf looked terrible. His robes were ragged and dirty, stained with his golden blood. His pale, bluish skin was covered in bruises and cuts, obviously from systematic torture, and he was even thinner than he had been so long ago. Well, if Styx remembered correctly, that is. What has been his name again? Nym, or something? Maybe he had dreamed all this bullshit, just like the fucking nightmare that kept coming back again and again... The pain vanished slowly, and finally Styx felt able to speak again.

"Hey, am I going insane or have we already met?", he asked him carefully. The Elf looked up, his eyes glowing.

"You are who they now call Styx...", Nym asked with his ethereal voice echoing in Styx's mind. His head exploded with pain once more. He knew that he had met this guy already, he remembered the damn pain whenever the Elf spoke. He didn't even use his mouth like a normal person would, he just made words appear in Styx's head. As far Styx knew, all of the rare Amber-Elves, hated by the Empire and corrupted by the Amber they drank like water, spoke like that. Their strange magical abilities resulted in their excessive Amber consumption, including the telepathy. It felt more than wrong.

"Did you cause the Atrium to fall?", the Elf went on. Styx groaned.

"Shut up! Ahhhh, dammit, I'm never going to get used to that! Fuck... Where was I? Listen, I vaguely remember that we have worked together, sort of, long ago. I'm not sure if that's even true, besides. I don't know of any Atrium. But my name _is_ Styx, I can tell you as much", Styx snapped.

"I helped you get rid of the first Styx, helped you to cut the connection between you and him, so he could no longer control you... You promised to stop him, for he was going to steal the Heart of the Tree... But the Heart was destroyed, and the Atrium crashed to the ground. You must have failed, and still you survived", Nym's wraithlike voice stated, without anger or accusation.

"What...? Listen, I don't know what you're talking about. Might be you think of my former self, but I have left that behind me long ago. That's not me anymore! Not me! I am the one and only Styx! What are you even doing here, for fuck's sake? Where's the rune?", Styx asked. He started to think that the rune was _not_ the most magical thing in the dungeon, it was Nym the thaumatometer had pointed to. He sighed frustrated.

"I am very sorry... The Inquisition questioned me for so long, and I've become weak... They are desperately searching for a new source of raw Amber, and they think you know a secret. They know about you, and they will hunt you down to make you tell them how to get more Amber", Nym echoed. "You are in grave danger. I apologize for that."

"Shit, stop talking already! Ouch, my head... I already know the Inquisition hunts me, okay? That's why I'm here, to stay out of sight and kill that fucking torturer. And find the rune, besides... Where is it?"

"You do not understand. The Bigot plans to capture you, to lure you into a trap..."

"Let's see what's in this jar... Dammit, empty. _What_? A trap? Hah! They can't do that, I'm untouchable!", Styx snapped, rummaging around in nearby shelves and turning jars and containers upside down. "I can tell you, they've been trying to catch me for as long as I can remember and never succeeded. The Empire's dogs don't stand a chance against _this_ Goblin here. A trap, huh? How are those wimps going to do that?"

"I have better hearing than Candidus knows. I overheard them talking about some person they want to kidnap. A hostage, to force you to come to them by yourself", Nym said. He had risen and stood on his long legs, though he still shook a little.

"I don't know anybody they could use for that", Styx muttered. Then, suddenly, he froze as if he had been struck. A horrible realization dawned in him.

"Wait... Did they mention a name?"

"I'm not sure... It is supposed to be some Dragonelf, as far as I remember", Nym replied.

Styx stared at him with panic in his eyes. His stomach felt like a piece of ember was burning its way through his insides, his head spun and his blood rushed in his ears as fear took him over.

It couldn't be true. It mustn't.

" _Maera_?! No, not her, that can't be, you must have misheard! Fuck those assholes, not Maera!", Styx shouted, walking up and down in sudden fear and worry. "It can't be! Think, bloody Elf! Are you sure about that?"

"I am certain. It was a Dragonelf from the Thaumaturgan Academy. That's all I heard."

" _No_! No fucking way! They can't! They don't know where she is, they don't know anything... How would they know about Maera? You didn't tell them, did you?"

"Do not get upset. I have never heard of her. They must have had another source", Nym replied calmly.

"Don't you tell me I can't get upset, I just saved your skinny ass! I need to get back to the city as fast as possible to see if she's alright!", Styx snapped, gathered his bag and made for the door. On his way out, he gave the torturer's corpse an angry kick. With a soft clatter, a fist-size runestone slipped out of his pocket, the magical rune a glowing blue pattern. Styx cursed wildly, picked up the damn thing and stuffed it in his bag. He didn't really care about his bloody contract right now, it seemed meaningless to him all of a sudden. All he could think about was Maera. He felt stupid and helpless. Why the hell had he not thought about that himself? If the Inquisition was so damn keen on capturing him, they might sooner or later also endanger the ones close to him.

 _Because I never had anybody who was this close to me._

Styx felt sick.

"Wait, Emet. I need your help, you cannot leave me here."

"Guess what, shithead, I can! If what you said is true, Maera is in danger! I swear if the Inquisition assholes lay their slimy hands on her I'm going to rip each one's throat out and shove them up their asses!", Styx shouted. He was angry and worried and more afraid than he had ever experienced in his entire life. It couldn't be Maera, it just couldn't... Maybe it was Sicca, which was bad enough, or Abbyss... He knew many Dragonelves, but none of them was as important to him as his Maera. Styx couldn't stand the mere thought of her being in danger, it made his heart burn in agony. He needed to leave as fast as possible, get back to the city and see if she was alright. He mustn't waste any time. On the other hand, the Elf might have heard more, he mused. Nym probably was the only source of information he had when it came to the Inquisition's plans. Maybe it was better to take him back as well.

"Come with me, fucking Elf. Maybe you know more things about the Inquisition's schemes I might need. We'll get to the highest wall of the castle, where a Dark Brotherhood member is going to pick me up soon. Try to stay close and don't make a sound, you got that?", Styx ordered. He thought that if the Elf had heard so much about the plans of the Bigot, it might be a bad idea to leave him to rot in the dungeon. Furthermore, now that Styx had mentioned Maera's name in his presence, if he left Nym behind he might tell the dear Inquisition that the Goblin they were looking for was heading back to the city, and he really couldn't use that.

The Elf nodded thankfully and followed Styx outside the chamber. He was still limping, but since he made wide steps while Styx sneaked carefully most of the time, he didn't slow him down. Together, they passed the cell area with the dead guards. Styx couldn't possibly fit that beanpole of an Elf into the tunnels he had used, so he had to figure out a new route. He was thanking himself that he had taken his time to explore the area and worked out several escape plans in advance. He took Nym down an empty hallway to an escalator for kitchen goods and supply that was so old that it was seldom used. Styx pulled a lever, and they ascended. Soon they had reached the ground level, and a breeze of fresh air came in through a vent. It didn't light up Styx mood, but it helped him concentrate. Carefully looking left and right, he made sure than the corridor behind the escalator was empty, then he whistled for the Elf. Together they made their way to a narrow spiral staircase that wound up high to a tower. Suddenly, the Elf stopped. His golden eyes glowed in the darkness.

"I sense a being coming from above...", Nym's voice whispered inside Styx's head.

"Ahhh... Shut it! I'll take a look, wait here."

Styx drew his dagger and slowly prowled upwards. Soon, he heard the heavy steps of a guard. By the sound of him it wasn't a knight, luckily. Styx waited until he was close enough, then he threw a slim knife at him. The blade thrust into the slit between the helmet and the neck armor, and the guard fell down the stairs. It made a hell of a noise, as if a pile of cooking pans had fallen down. Styx cursed as he heard more steps coming from above.

"Is anyone there? You better show yourself!", a voice demanded. Then, another guard popped into view and caught Styx offhand. The guard swung his heavy sword, and Styx quickly raised his dagger to parry the blow. He did it, but the impact of the sword on his own weapon made his arm ring with pain. The guard tried another blow, and this time the steel scratched Styx's arm. He gasped angrily, trying to ignore the pain, and parried another blow. Styx was starting to get tired, green blood oozing from the cut in his arm. The guard wanted to finish it and swung his sword widely, but it was too long for the staircase and the tip hit the wall. Styx used the guard's short confusion to quickly headbutt him, push him to the ground and bury his dagger in his face.

"Elf! Quick, get up here!", Styx called. He didn't have any acid left, and soon the other guards would notice the blood that ran down the stairs. Together with the Elf, he climbed up the tower until they reached the top of the castle wall. It was the gloomy grey darkness just before dawn, and an orange stripe on the horizon told Styx that the sun was going to rise soon. He looked out for the griffin, and luckily there it was, a faint grey silhouette against the foggy mountains that surrounded the castle. Styx and Nym rushed to the griffin. The assassin that rode it sat next to its huge talons, sharpening a knife with a whetstone.

"Styx, you're early. Hey, who's that? You didn't tell me about any guests..."

"Shut up and get your chicken ready, we need to get back to the Academy as fast as possible! If this guy here is right, the Inquisition has some really fucked up plans and if we don't hurry, we'll be too late to stop them!", Styx shouted.

"We won't be as fast with another rider... You sure you don't want to leave him?", the assassin asked. If Nym was afraid hearing this, he didn't show it.

"I can't! I'd love to, but he knows much about the Inquisition's plans! I need him. We'll just hand him over to the Archmage of the Academy, he'll take care of him. So, can we go now?", Styx begged.

"Fine, then. Climb on."

The three climbed on the griffin, which didn't complain about the extra weight, and flew up into the grey shroud of clouds that covered the morning sun.


	10. IX

IX

The assassin knew a faster route, using the winds and air currents, and yet it took them three days straight to reach the Academy, and Styx's ranting and cursing didn't make them faster either. The Elf had been quiet most of the time. At first, the assassin had been curious and asked Nym about the Inquisition, but when he experienced the echoing voice of the Amber-Elf in his head, he soon asked him to shut up. More than once, Styx had been tempted to just toss the Elf into some valley and fly without him, but if something should happen to Maera, Nym might be the only one with enough knowledge of the Inquisition's plans to help him.

In every waking moment, the angry voice from the back of his mind asked Styx if he had gone completely nuts. Part of him was actually surprised about his willingness to endanger his mission by departing too soon and taking that damn Elf with him. He would never do that for anyone. Well, for Arkail probably. But in Maera's case, things were utterly different, and Styx tried to cling to that thought as the raging voice threatened to drown out his own thinking. When he dozed off for just a short moment, the shadowy figure that almost looked like him confronted him once more, now clearer than ever, still shrouded in Amber dust. The eyes of the other one were glowing dangerously, and Styx could see his sharp teeth flash as he grinned contemptuously at him.

 _Rakash… Don't you even think about risking your pathetic little life for someone who doesn't even care about you. Forget her._

 _I can't. She needs me._

 _The only one who needs you is yourself! You'll only get yourself killed._

 _But it hurts._

 _Fine, let it hurt! Savor the pain. Get pissed. Kill every damn human in the entire Academy if you must, but in the end, you know that I'm the only one who can make you feel better._

 _You're not real._

 _Oh, but I am. And you know it. I can make all your stupid little worries disappear in the blink of an eye._

Styx shivered.

 _Liar._

 _Remember the last meeting we had, back in the swamps, in the mind of that pretty mage? How good it felt to let go, how the pain slowly vanished? And then, seconds before I was able to cure you from your suffering, in your pigheaded stubbornness, you refused my generous offer. I just wanted to help, Rakash._

 _You don't…_

 _Surrender to me, Rakash!_

" _No!_ "

Styx woke up, covered in sweat. He was vaguely aware of the assassin staring at him from his place behind the griffin's ears.

"Is anything wrong?", he asked over the howling wind.

"I… I just thought aloud if it might be smarter to take the southern pass", Styx lied.

"Don't think so. But you seem to have come to the same conclusion", the assassin replied.

"Yeah, guess so."

Styx used all his willpower to stay awake now.

* * *

Finally, with every minute seeming like an eternity to Styx, they saw the silhouette of the Old Thaumaturgan Academy among the other buildings of the town on the horizon. The griffin circled around the roof, looking for a place to land safely. Styx looked out nervously for broken windows, burning wood, anything that might look suspicious, but he didn't see anything. Maybe he was going batshit for nothing, and Maera was just fine, waiting for him. He hoped so with all his heart.

"You get in and find the Archmage, he'll take care of the Elf. I'll look if everything's alright", Styx told the other assassin. They opened one of the doors that connected the roof with Maera's chambers right below. Styx stormed inside.

"Maera! Maera, you there? Answer me, please!", he shouted.

The room didn't really look like anything out of the ordinary had happened. There was no mess, no bloodstains or traces of a fight. But Maera was not there, and her owl's perch was empty as well. Styx blinked in confusion. Maybe she was down in the cellar with the alchemists? Styx started to think that all the fussing might have been a false alarm, but then something unusual struck his eye. He froze in shock.

A large round table had been pushed to the center of the reading chamber, where her favorite desk normally stood. In the middle, an Inquisition longsword was rammed into the wood, piercing a parchment to the table. As Styx carefully got closer, he saw that there was a stain in the shape of a hand on the paper.

"No, no, no, no, NO! Fuck, no...", he muttered as he drew out the damn sword and took a look at the crumbled parchment. His name was written on the paper, and printed above was the shape of Maera's hand. He knew her hand and had no doubt, he recognized her four delicate fingers and the short, pointy claws. It was printed with blood, dried and dark. Her blood, he presumed.

Styx felt so sick and raging with anger all the same that he couldn't decide whether he wanted to throw up or stab somebody. A ton of emotions floated through his boiling head like flakes of ash in a fire. With slightly trembling hands, he turned the paper around. On the back, there was a short text:

"If you want to get her back, come to the Valley of Akenash. Come fast, and come alone, or you'll never see her again."

It bore the Inquisition's sigil, a cross on purple wax. Nym had told him true.

And he had come too late.

"Styx! Finally, you are here!", a deep voice called him.

Styx didn't react at first. The world around him sounded like his head was wrapped in wool. His blood pounded in his ears, his vision blurred and he felt like he was in a nightmare.

 _Not her. Not Maera._

"Styx, listen to me!" A shove from the Archmage brought him back into reality. A tall Dark Elf with blue-and-grey fur-trimmed robes stood before him. "They came in the night, two days ago. They really knew what they were doing, nobody noticed them enter. We discovered that Maera was missing only yesterday, and when we saw that the message was for you, we decided to wait for your return. Since the Inquisition apparently keeps her as a hostage, we didn't want to endanger her life with hasty actions."

"I..." Styx desperately tried to regain his composure. He didn't want the others to know that he was this close to losing his mind. "I need to leave, right now. No matter what. It is me they want, and it's my fault they captured Maera. How the hell do I get to the Valley of Akenash? Anybody of you bookworms got an idea?", he asked.

The Archmage turned around to the other researchers and Librarians who had gathered around. All of them looked sad and lost. Styx hated them all the same, for they didn't do anything to prevent this, those fools. Most of all, he hated himself for not being there.

"Poor Maera...", some Librarian said, shaking his head. "Bryn wanted to help her, but she was tied to a perch and hurt her wing and leg when she tried to rip free. She's down with Master Cornix, she'll be fine soon, at least."

"Oh great, an owl has more courage than any of you pathetic wimps", Styx growled. Surprisingly, that comforted him a little. Hearing that Maera's beloved Bryn had been killed would have been too much. At least she was safe here, and not in Akenash with Maera. Frowning, Styx remembered that the Elf had mentioned this name before. Some Restoration Mage had started to take care of Nym's wounds, treating him with golden glowing charms as Styx strode towards him.

"Hey, Elf! You said something about Akenash, didn't you? Speak, asshole! Where is it?", Styx snapped at Nym.

"I can tell you where exactly to find it, but it is a dangerous place. I'll mark it on a map for you", Nym's voice echoed.

"Abbyss of the Dark Brotherhood has already been informed", the Archmage remarked.

"Ah, finally, someone who is able to get his shit together!", Styx said annoyed. "I'll gather everything I need, while Nym prepares the map and then I'll wait for Abbyss. There's no time to lose!"

He just wanted to get away as fast as possible, away from all those cowards, off to Maera. He felt that he couldn't suppress his panic much longer, and he really didn't want the others to see how shattered he was. The other Librarians and the Archmage left the room while Styx ran here and there to Maera's shelves to gather his equipment. Not much time passed until the Dark Brotherhood leader appeared out of nowhere on the window ledge, but it seemed like an eternity to Styx.

"Abbyss! Finally! You heard what those Inquisition assholes did?", Styx asked the old Dragonelf.

"I told you I had a bad feeling about this. The Bigot really wants you, and he'll do anything to get you. Did you find the rune?"

"What...? That's what you are worried about? They kidnapped Maera!"

Abbyss kept an icecold, straight face while Styx yelled at him.

"Did you find the rune?"

"Fine, I got it. Here you go, take the damn thing. Anyway, I need to leave as fast as possible. Got any tips for me?", Styx asked, throwing the rune to him.

"Yes, I have. Stay."

"WHAT? You gotta be kidding!"

"I'm serious. Stay. It is a trap, most obviously. You're going to get captured, and then they'll question you, torture you and kill you. And her as well. Leave Maera, stay and survive", Abbyss said.

"Fuck, no! How can you say that? She's a Dragonelf like you, she's basically part of the family!", Styx shouted angrily.

"The Inquisition will kill her if you don't go, and if you go they will kill her all the same. It doesn't matter, but if you stay you'll live. It's not like you to risk your own life for someone else, you've never done that", Abbyss stated.

"I... I know, and normally I wouldn't risk my ass for nobody! But... It's different this time, okay? She's in that trouble just because of me", Styx said. Abbyss was right, he realized. In every other place and time, he would never even think about risking his butt for another person, no matter who it was. He had sort of risked his life for his buddy Arkail, back when they killed Emperor Barimen, but Styx had done that also for himself and because he fucking hated humans, and only because he never really was the person of interest. The Orc was the center of attention, and he, the sneaky Goblin, stood out of the breach. Stay out of danger, be discrete, survive. That's why he still lived, because he had learned to keep his head down. The thought of stepping right into the snakepit gave him the shivers. But this time... Thinking of leaving Maera to the Inquisition just to stay out of trouble filled his heart with such a burning pain that he just wanted to scream. He couldn't take it, no fucking way.

"I'm not going to change my mind. I'm saving Maera and kick the Bigot's sacred ass! Hard. You gonna help me get to the Valley of Akenash or what?", Styx said firmly.

Abbyss looked at him thoughtfully with his enigmatic light-grey eyes. He didn't say anything for a long while, and Styx felt like the ancient Dragonelf was judging him by looking inside him. After what felt like forever, Abbyss seemed to have come to a conclusion.

"Take this with you. You might need it." He handed Styx the runestone he had stolen from Candidus. "You'll know how to use it when it's time." Styx took it with a shrug and stuffed it back in his bag.

"Well, if you say so... How am I gonna get there?"

Abbyss whistled. With a loud whoosh created by huge wings beating the air, another griffin landed in front of the window. Styx took a step back. It was Gendry, one of Abbyss' personal griffins. Its feathers were white and brown mottled, with a black crest. With eery silver eyes it stared down at Styx.

"Gendry is quick, strong and she will help you reach the valley faster than any other transport, and she can blend in her environment just like you. But she will only take you to the edge of the valley before she returns to me. After that you'll be on your own", Abbyss said.

"Thanks. I take being on my own any time", Styx replied and went back to Nym to get his map. The Elf had marked the route for him.

"I wish you good luck, Emet", Nym's voice said. "Akenash is a fateful place for both of us."

"Yeah, whatever. I'll be back, you can count on that!"

Styx went to the window and climbed on the back of the griffin. A cold wind was blowing outside, and the afternoon sun was hidden behind lead-grey clouds. According to the map, he had to fly far into the east.

"Don't die", Abbyss said seriously.

"I won't", Styx replied, tugged his hood over his forehead and gave Gendry the signal to depart. Flying high up into the shrouded, windy sky, he left the Library behind, which soon disappeared in the mist.


	11. X

X

The griffin was indeed fast as the wind. The landscape below them flew by, the thick forests and green meadows surrounding the city making place to bogs, wet plains and slow, muddy rivers. The land in the east got more rocky and wet the further they got, giving it a grey appearance. Sitting in the griffin's plumage with the cold wind rushing by, Styx could do nothing but adjust the course from time to time by tugging at Gendry's leather collar and ponder about what might await him at the Valley of Akenash, or sleep. He stopped just to let Gendry have a drink in some river, refill his waterskin and sometimes allow the griffin to hunt down some deer. Every time she ripped her prey apart with a bloody beak, she hissed at him. Styx didn't feel like eating. He forced himself to eat as he knew he'd need all his strength. At night, he had weird dreams. Often he dreamt of Maera, but not the way he normally did when he felt lonely and longed for some sweet pleasures, the kind of dreams that left him tense and stiff the next morning. These dreams were different, sad and confusing. Once, he dreamt of his talk with Sicca just before he met Maera the first time.

"What do you like?", Sicca asked.

"I like long hair the color of moonlight", Styx replied. "I like dark brown eyes, eyes so deep you can lose yourself in. I like soft, wide hips and tiny freckles on skin as smooth as silk, green as old moss. I like her gentle warmness, her terrible pride and stubbornness, her bad table manners, the missing tip on one of her teeth, the little notch she has in her right ear, the soft skin on her belly she doesn't like and that I like to taste so much... All those tiny imperfections that make her the most perfect being I've ever met. I like Maera. No, I don't just like her, I..."

A gust of icecold rain woke him.

Cursing wildly, he pulled a blanket over himself to stay at least a little dry. _Stop it, stupid Rakash, stop it_ , he told himself angrily.

When the rain lit up, he looked at the landscape that spread out under him. It was a grey and green wasteland, deep swamps and mires. Drowned trees reached for the sky with black branches, and white shrouds of mist covered the muddy ground where the rushes didn't. Here and there were rocky hills, and far in the distance he could see some mountains emerging. Between them, he knew, must be the Valley of Akenash. The area looked like it hadn't been populated by intelligent beings for centuries. Within another day's flight, he reached the mountains.

As Styx stared pensively into the mist below them, the words of Nym came back to his mind.

 _Akenash is a fateful place for both of us._

Why the hell would he say that? Styx had never really bothered about Akenash before, he just knew that it was some important castle or tower of the Empire before it got destroyed, about two centuries ago. The Elf had also mentioned the Inquisition's aim to find a new source for Amber. Well, the damn golden sap _was_ bloody expensive even on the black market, he knew so from his contacts. Styx didn't like the stuff, it made his head hurt. Still, he had to admit to himself that he wasn't quite sure whether Amber hadn't played an important part in his past, most likely in the muddy bits he had forgotten. His shiny mark and golden glowing eyes were things that he shared with those damn Amber-Elves like Nym… and Amber addicts. Styx frowned and shook his head. This was a bunch of complicated bullshit he absolutely didn't want to get himself into. Still, his sharp instincts told him that there _must_ be a connection between Akenash, the Inquisition, the Amber and him, though he couldn't really wrap his mind around.

Carefully, they flew into the deep, misty valley, looking out for Inquisition outposts. Soon, Styx saw some soldiers patrolling, a line of torches between the shallow puddles and rocks. They didn't seem to notice Gendry, as her mottled feathers hid her well in this grey and brown wasteland. Somehow, all of this looked familiar, in a very disturbing way. The swamps, the mist, the dead trees... It all looked like the cradle of his first memories, the bog he crossed back in Arkence's mind. He heard sounds, unseen creatures growling and hissing, and it almost sounded like words. Goblins... Those creatures were not able to speak, Styx knew. They were like him, but still as different as earth and air. At the end of the valley, all of a sudden, something else appeared, something big.

A flash of reminiscences took away Styx's breath, and he held his aching head.

 _The ruins of Akenash..._

The gigantic complex was an endless mess of crumbled walls and broken towers, covering a wide area from mountainside to mountainside. Merlons larger than humans still stuck to battlements and rotten walkways, shattered and overgrown with moss and vines. Some bits of the ruins were larger than townhouses, sunken deep into the wet ground as they had fallen from the sky, crushing each other when they tumbled down. Here and there, roofs, statues and steel doors could be seen, all rusted and weathered. A bronze bell, all corroded, bigger than three humans, vaguely poked out of the mud.

 _The changing of the guards..._

Styx knew he had been here once. His head hurt when he tried to remember, yet he knew he had all of this seen already, so long ago. What had the Elf told him in the dungeon? Nym had helped him to cut the connection between him and his former self, and for this Styx had promised to save the World Tree... Styx grunted as he remembered the scene in Arkence's mind, the pain as he was forced to face his past, the _other_ Styx. His tenacious fury when he refused it, as he had left his past behind himself centuries ago. And yet, when he saw the broken statue of a huge knight holding a longsword, he remembered a prison with a statue just like that one near the gate, covered with red banners, full of the dead and dying...

 _Rakash_ …

 _Shut up_ , Styx told himself.

 _Remember, Rakash! Remember the fear. Remember the anger. Remember how it felt to be a mindless servant._

 _Shut up!_ , Styx thought again with all the mental strength he could muster. Red, boiling panic was rising inside him. The painful enigmatic flashbacks popping up in his head no matter where he looked made it hard for him to resist the angry voice. It got louder, ringing between his ears and drowning out his own thinking.

 _Somebody whispered to you to steal, and you stole. Somebody whispered to you to kill, and you killed. You were nothing but a tool, Rakash. My tool._

 _It can't be him, it can't_ , Styx told himself, his breathing short and quick. Deep inside though, he knew who the voice belonged to. He knew it, but he would not accept it, he would not!

 _Yeah, that's right, Rakash! Don't think about what happened. Just let go. Surrender to the flood. Surrender to the memories. Does it hurt? Of course it does. I can make the pain disappear in the blink of an eye. Just surrender to me._

The voice sounded almost temptingly friendly. Styx's head throbbed with pain, and he couldn't see anything but the flashing images of Amber dust and blood and the shadow of swords and guards dancing in the light cast by torches, so many torches. The face of his former self, corrupted with century-long hatred and Amber-abuse. Styx knew it was a mingle-mangle of bits from his past, and he could never accept it, he couldn't, it was too terrible. He didn't want to think about what would happen to him should he allow himself to _remember_. And still, the pain became more unbearable the longer Styx resisted. It would be so easy, so damn easy to just give in, to let the current take him away. Easier than accepting all those horrors, and easier than resisting.

 _Yes, Rakash… Give your creator back what is his by right._

Styx swayed.

The griffin made a quick turn, and Styx lost his grip. He gasped when he almost fell, clutching to the feathers tightly. Breathing hard and fighting against the pain, he stared at the soft, brown plumage between his clenched fingers. Different pictures emerged in front of his inner eye, pictures of Maera showing him how to hold her owl. Styx remembered how her pointy claws felt when Bryn sat on his gauntlet, eyeing him curiously, her feathers puffed up with anticipation.

"She likes you", Maera had said, smiling. "Even though you called her a fatty."

"It was a compliment. I am quite fond of curvy girls…", he had replied, winking rakishly.

"I'm not fat, you fucktard!"

"Ouch! You know I'm just kidding, slim little beauty. You're curvy in just the perfect places." They had laughed, and thinking of the sound of Maera's laughter helped Styx chase away the terrible golden maelstrom inside his head.

 _Argh! Rakash, you pathetic little wimp! You're making me sick!_

 _Good_ , Styx thought.

It really was time to get his shit together and concentrate on his mission again. He was sick and tired of this nonsense. Maera needed him! He looked to his left and noticed some broken cages with bars thick enough to hold back a small dragon, and it reminded him of captured Orcs, brainless as watchdogs, trying to grab him as he sneaked by on quiet feet, trying to avoid those damn glowing insects... One déjà-vu followed the next, and again it made his head pound like a fucking anvil.

"Nope, fuck this. Concentrate, Rakash, focus. Those Inquisition assholes mustn't see me if I want a chance to find Maera in this shitpit before they find me", he said to himself. Then he spotted the Inquisition headquarter.

The Bigot had made his camp in a large circular ruin that might have been some kind of embassy. His purple banners snapped in the wind. Parts of the walls were still intact, and Styx could see light through the broken windows, and smoke emerging from the holes in the walls. Some big red airships were standing around the camp area. Tents and patrols were placed outside the ruin, with Inquisitors and heavy armored knights strolling all over the damn place like ants.

Styx signaled Gendry to perch on some rock outcrop. That was it, he knew, the place where they kept Maera. And waited for him to be stupid enough to step right in the trap. Climbing on the back of the griffin and get his butt out of this snakepit suddenly seemed more than tempting. Sure, he had already dealt with the Inquisition lots of times, he was a professional when it came to those Imperial assholes. But in those cases they weren't expecting him like an invited guest. They probably had already spotted him, acting all unsuspiciously to lull him into a false sense of security. It might just be the smartest thing to run away, and save himself. Maybe Abbyss was right. It would only get him killed in the nastiest way possible.

Styx pulled out the parchment he had found in the Library, the message the Inquisition had left for him. He looked at it for a long moment, looked at the handprint made with Maera's blood. Then he gazed out at the ruins of Akenash again, and his eyes went narrow, glowing fierce and golden. His fist crumbled the paper.

Styx silently swore an oath. He was going to punish them for laying their slimy hands on Maera, one by one, until they all begged for mercy. And he wouldn't show mercy, he certainly fucking wouldn't.

"Alright, big bird, get back to Abbyss. I'll be on my own. You think you can make me a little diversion?", he asked Gendry, stroking her curved beak. He had no idea if Gendry could understand what he said, but she certainly understood that she was allowed to leave. Her huge wings beat the air, taking for the sky.

Styx watched her depart, and his mouth turned into a furtive grin as he saw how Gendry dashed down on the camp with a nosedive, screaming like a demon. The guards ran towards her, and arrows and bolts whistled around the griffin. She didn't seem to care, and with some elegant twists and turns she picked up a knight in her talons, carried him up high and let him drop down on a tent. The turmoil Gendry caused before she had enough and flew away into the setting sun was huge, and Styx took the chance to at least get to the ruin unnoticed. Carefully avoiding the patrols in the murky light of dusk, he went closer to a wall with rusty wall hangings. An Inquisitor stood nearby, together with a crossbow man. Styx hid behind a crate, assessing the situation. He whistled, and when the two turned around, he threw a knife into the crossbow man's neck. The Inquisitor wanted to alarm the others, but before he could do so he had a jagged dagger drawn across his throat. Styx piled up the bodies behind a box and climbed up the wall until he reached a broken window high above the ground and crawled inside. Behind him, the world was turning dark. The inside of the destroyed embassy was lit orange with torches, braziers and large firepits. It looked like a fully equipped smithery, full of workers, guards, tables with weapons, cages and glimmering steel everywhere, all covered in the smoke of the firepits. The noise the humans and the smiths' hammers made was echoing in the large brick-built place. And there, in a rear corner of the place, with a flock of men in beaked masks walking around, he spotted a torture rack. Slowly he prowled closer to it, staying up in the rafters. Soon he could see better, and what he saw there made him sick. Left to the rack stood a firepit, and right to it stood a tall man with a painted bronze mask and elegant black-and-purple robes, and on the torture rack...

There was Maera.

Styx's heart skipped a beat. He desperately craned his neck to see her better. As far as he could tell, they had stripped her but for a simple linen dress. Her wrists were tied to the rack, so she was forced to stand upright all the time. She looked almost bored, Styx noticed puzzled, but when a torturer pulled out a branding iron from the firepit, glowing white, and came closer to her, her eyes went wide with fear.

"Well, greenskin, the same game as before", the tall man with the mask said to her. "Tell us something useful. Where are the revolting mages hiding?"

"I won't tell you anything, you slimy little prick. Same game as before", Maera snapped at him. The man sighed.

"I'll ask you again nicely, one more time. Where are they hiding?"

"In the same cave your mangy bitch of a mother is hiding in, asshole", Maera spat. The man shook his head and gave the torturer a signal.

Styx had to bite his tongue until he tasted blood to prevent himself from going batshit as the torturer pressed the white-hot iron on her arm. Maera screamed.

"You know where the mages hide, all Academy members know. Tell us!", the man demanded.

"Fuck you!", Maera replied with clenched teeth, before she screamed again. Up in the rafters, Styx was struggling for composure, his heart racing with pain as if it was his skin that was burned with the glowing iron.

* * *

Maera had adapted quickly to the situation.

As soon as the airships arrived at Akenash, she had been taken out of the thick canvas bag the Inquisition had stuffed her in, with her wrists and ankles tied together and a bandage around her mouth, for she had bitten and scratched like a mother griffin when they tried to kidnap her. They had done it the cowardly way, at night, when Maera was deep asleep. She had heard them coming just as they had dumped the bag of poppy-powder over her head, which had left her conscious for only a few heartbeats before she fell asleep again, giving her enough time to at least kick one agent in the nuts. In her waking moments, she had given every damn hand that dared to touch her a taste of her sharp fangs, for Maera was determined not to go down without kicking and screaming, all the while cursing like a sailor. After a while, though, she found out that she was to be held captive, not killed, and calmed down a little to save her strength. She didn't know the area they brought her to, but she knew it must be the famous Atrium of Akenash, or at least what was left of it. Maera also knew they had captured her to lure Styx in a trap. That was the most terrifying thing for her about all this, worse than the torture.

In the beginning, they had tried all kinds of nasty shit on her, stick needles in her flesh, squeeze her fingers, dip her head in water until she almost drowned. The Bigot, the new leader of the Inquisition, seemed to be convinced that she knew many useful things about the rebellion, the mages and the connections of the Academy, and so she did, but she was not willing to give any of it to those fuckers. Maera had been cursing and kicking all the time, until she felt like she couldn't take the pain much longer. She realized she must find some way to manipulate them, to get herself some time to think of a plan. Soon she found a way.

When the torturers discussed using fire, glowing irons and such, she had acted like it was the most horrifying thing to her, as if she was almost scared to death by the mere thought of being burnt. Of course, thinking that they had found Maera's personal weak spot, the Inquisitors gladly got out their branding irons, heated them up until they glowed white and pressed them to her skin. Whenever they did, Maera screamed from the top of her lungs.

But it didn't help those asshole. Not a tiny bit.

Arrogant as the Inquisition was, they considered all the greenskins savage, primitive beasts not worth any more attention. Luckily, for if they had known a little more about her, Maera's plan would not have worked. But they didn't know, and that was her big advantage. Her chance to come free.

She was a Dragonelf.

Fire didn't hurt her.

Every time the torturers tried to burn her, Maera acted like she was close to be broken. In truth, it bored her. She felt the heat, but it was no more painful than a gentle summer breeze. The scar they cut in her hand to print it on the message for Styx hurt badly, and the stitches and bruises she had gotten before. But now, she had won some time to heal. Sometimes she invented stories to set the Bigot's men on the wrong track. The most exhausting thing about this was the screaming, as it made her throat hurt. So she spent her time concentrating, meditating. She had not used those certain skills for a long time, for the Library she lived in made it too risky, with all the paper and dry parchment... Maera gathered her strength, waiting. She would find a way to free herself, she simply had to, or Styx would get himself in great danger. She desperately hoped he would not walk in the trap.

* * *

When Styx heard Maera scream in agony once more, his thoughts were swirling through his mind like snowflakes in a storm. His own thoughts mixed with the words of the angry voice from the back of his head, yelling at him as he struggled with himself. Inside him, his deeply rooted survival instinct and the burning pain he felt when he saw Maera on the torture rack fought against each other.

 _Save her, leave her, don't step in the trap, don't risk your life, they'll capture you and kill you, they're just waiting, don't be stupid, help Maera you fucking coward, you just can't let them hurt her, not Maera, not my Maera, save her now!_

One side won.

There was a glimpse of a shadow, the sudden silvery flash of a dagger, and three of the torturers sank to their knees with blood splashing out of the slits were their throats had been. Styx swirled around, throwing knives, kicking an approaching guard in the knees and burying his dagger in his chest, stabbing another one in the back. Blind with rage, yet fully concentrated, he fought like a short green demon, quickly piling dead men around him. As if from a great distance, he heard Maera's voice.

"Styx! Don't! I'm fine, please, flee! Trust me, I'm okay! Run, Styx! Please..."

Styx stopped for a heartbeat, confused. Maera's voice turned into desperate sobbing as two dozen guards closed in around him, hitting him with the blunt ends of their spears. He still stabbed everybody that dared to come close enough, taking two more guards out, but then an invisible hand, cold as ice, grabbed him with an unnatural strength and lifted him from the ground, holding him up.

The tall, elegant man with the mask approached Styx, his arm stretched out before him. His black and purple robes with the embroidered crosses on them as well as the magic he possessed told the Goblin that this man must be the Bigot, the head of the Inquisition himself. Styx wasn't able to move, but still squirmed in the High Inquisitor's magical grip.

"Let go of me you fucking bastard! I swear I will kill you so slowly that in the end you'll beg me to finish it!", he screamed at the man. "Maera! I'm gonna punish these assholes for what they did to you, and I'll free you, I promise!"

The Inquisitor just laughed disparagingly. When Styx saw that Maera was crying all the rage and fury suddenly faded from him. Part of him asked why the fuck he had been so stupid. Maybe he should have waited for the right moment. But then they would have hurt Maera even more, and he could not stand the mere thought of that.

"Well, well, look at that. The noble prince has come to save his princess! I don't know about you, boys, but in the stories _I_ heard the two were tall and handsome and less... _green_ ", the Bigot said. The guards around them were laughing. The man went on. "Finally! My plan worked perfectly, just as expected."

"Stop babbling, dickhead. What do you want from me?", Styx asked. Now that the trap had sprung, they didn't have any more reason to hurt Maera. Somehow that filled him with such a great relief that he felt ready to face whatever they might want him for.

"What I want? I want you to yield me the secret of the Amber!", the Bigot said with a dramatic voice.

"Oh, so sad to disappoint you, but you got the wrong guy. The last time I tried Amber is so long ago that even your grand-grandfather was still playing with his poop. Sorry, but I can't help you with that", Styx replied. The High Inquisitor grunted.

"Silence, fool. I know from a reliable source that you were the one that caused the destruction of this magnificent Atrium and of the World Tree, the last source of raw Amber. When this source died out, the Barimen family found a way to distill the remaining stocks, but today these stocks are short as well. There must be other sources of Amber, and you will give me the secret."

"Hah! How do you like that? Listen, I have no fucking idea of any Amber-source. You can whine and whimper as much as you want, it won't help you. I know nothing", Styx replied.

"It's true, he can't help you. You were mistaken", Maera said. A guard next to her gave her slap.

"Shut up, greenskin!"

"Hey, leave her alone, asshole! She's right, and even if you hang me upside down from the wall, I don't know anything about Amber", Styx said. Seeing Maera get slapped had given him a sting to the heart. He was still confused about how sad she looked, as if she had not wanted him to come. Not that he expected her to look all happy after what they had done to her, but the way she gazed at him with that deep sorrow in her eyes almost made him think that she would have had preferred if Styx had stayed away.

"Oh, I won't do that to you, I have something way better in mind", the Bigot announced maliciously. "My source told us that you forgot about your Amber-fuelled past when you where reborn in one of those disgusting cocoons of the Elves. Well, I intend to bring back those sweet memories of yours for the sake of the Inquisition, and with the secret of how to harvest more Amber, our holy strife after the liberation of the human Empire of the greenskin infestation will get all the magical support we need! Soldiers, leave us. Disciples, bring the vials!"

Styx inhaled sharply as he realized that Nym, the damn Elf, must be the Bigot's "reliable source". They must have pestered that poor fuck pretty badly to get all those details about him. Again, why the hell did Nym know so much about him, things he didn't even know himself? Apparently, the Elf had played an even bigger role in Styx's past than he would have guessed. What he didn't get was the bullshit the Bigot was talking about some secret source of Amber. Styx was pretty damn sure that there was no other source, and that the Bigot, insane as he was, misunderstood something when torturing the poor Elf. This wouldn't be too surprising, since it was still the Inquisition, and these nutcases only heard what they wanted to hear. There had been an Amber source, the World Tree, that had died under mysterious circumstances and now there was an Elf who knew how that had happened, and apparently, he, Styx, had played some kind of role in that mess, and now the Bigot had set his mind on finding n new source of Amber, starting with the person that probably fucked up the last source. Funny thing was that Styx had no idea.

If it hadn't been for Maera being held as a hostage by those fuckers, Styx might have laughed at the absurdity of the situation.

But he didn't feel like laughing, not a bit. Styx had to hide his anxiety as the guards left the embassy but for a handful of Inquisition disciples, all of them looking determined to fulfill any of their bosses' wishes. They brought a basket filled with flasks, each of them glowing like liquid gold. The Bigot let him down and Styx felt the invisible fist that held him loose a little, just to be replaced by another Inquisitor's firm magical grip. Styx was forced to kneel on the ground, close to the torture rack Maera was still strapped to. He looked in her eyes, trying to tell her silently that he had come here just for her. He wasn't sure whether she understood or not, for she looked just sad and tired.

"Now, Goblin, prepare yourself for a nice little nostalgia trip", the Bigot said. He took a vial of Amber, pulled the cork and went over to Styx.

"No, please! I tell you everything you want!", Maera shouted. Tears were running down her face. Styx couldn't take his eyes from her stricken form, now tired and sad himself. The Bigot came closer to him, showing him the golden vial.

Styx's last experiences with Amber were so long ago that he didn't really know what to expect, but he knew it wouldn't play out well for him if the fucking Inquisition was so fond of it. As one disciple grabbed him to force his head back, he resisted angrily, his teeth clenched tight.

It didn't help him. They forced his jaw open with invisible magical hands, and the Bigot poured the glowing liquid over his mouth. Styx had to swallow if he didn't want to suffocate. The taste was indescribable, neither delicious nor gross, the kind of taste one wants more of even if one didn't like it. Memories of the taste came back to him, how much he had longed for the smell and taste of Amber... Seconds after that, the effect kicked in. Styx was dimly aware of Maera's fear and tears and the bronze masks of the Inquisition's men around him, and then the world turned the color of blood and honey and everything blurred together in one noisy mess, swirling in his head like some golden maelstrom. His head pounded, all the talking and noises mixed up and still sounded like he was wrapped in wool, and then the voices were there.

He had forgotten how terrible that felt. Thousands of voices, whispering in his head. He had already been here, of course he had… He had been in Akenash, even before he was born. Reminiscences of his past in Akenash popped up in his mind, pictures of the World Tree, of Nym, of a labyrinth of corridors and secret passages. He saw his face, but it wasn't his own face, just someone who almost looked like him, but older, tired, completely insane, laughing at him. Styx gave in to the whispering, to the _other_ Styx, and lost himself in the hot golden delirium.

* * *

Maera watched in panic how Styx squirmed and shivered when the Bigot forced him to drink the Amber. She saw that it didn't have the effect on him the Inquisition had hoped for, it was too much, it hurt him. What had those idiots expected? That Styx would get drunk and happily tell them all they wanted to hear?

He breathed harder for a few seconds, then he closed his eyes, his head sank down to his chest and he stopped moving.

Whatever the Inquisition had been planning for the Goblin to tell them, it had gone terribly wrong. The disciples were staring completely perplexedly at their High Inquisitor, waiting for him to react. The Bigot stared at the Goblin, obviously not satisfied with the turn events just took. He ordered his men to lift the Goblin up and felt his pulse on his neck. With tears running down her face, Maera feared for the worst.

"It is still alive. Well, seems like it was weaker than the chief torturer estimated. I will have him burn for this miscalculation!", the Bigot snapped. "For the Goblin... We'll wait until it wakes up and then try again. The Amber rush won't last forever. Take them both into the cell!"

Maera was freed from the rack, and strong arms with heavy gloves carried her away to the cell she had to sleep in when she wasn't being questioned. The two disciples that carried her were careful, fearing she might bite again, but she hung between them like a puppet, staring at Styx. They were rudely thrown into a small cell back in the rear of the ruin. Maera didn't pay attention to the creaking of the key in the heavy iron door, she quickly crawled over to Styx and carefully turned him on his back.

"Styx, please... Wake up. Come on Rakash, you're strong, wake up!", she whispered with tears in her eyes, shaking him. Styx didn't react, his body was limp and lifeless. She held some fingers over his mouth and felt his warm breath. He was alive, but he wasn't just unconscious. His forehead was covered with tiny cold sweat beads. When she put her hand on his chest to feel his heartbeat, it was pounding quick and frantic, as if Styx was having a terrible nightmare. Maera struggled for composure and told herself to be strong, for fuck's sake. She took a deep breath, wiped her eyes and pushed Styx against her chest, hugging him and holding him tight, hoping he might feel her wherever he was right now. With her left hand she wiped the Amber from his lips and kissed him deeply, as if it might revive him just like in the old stories. No reaction. Maera ignored the burning of the Amber in her injured hand and looked around her desperately thinking.

The small cell might have been some storeroom of the embassy, back then when the Atrium still floated in the sky. The Bigot had said that Styx had something to do with the Atrium of Akenash... Maera had never asked Styx about his past, now that she thought about it, for she had felt that it wasn't something he liked to talk about. He had hinted that he had forgotten most of it, and that he was pretty damn thankful for that. Styx often had nightmares, and sometimes he would wake up in the night screaming or cursing, and panic about things he seemed to have forgotten but that still haunted his sleep. There was something about some Amber addiction, she remembered vaguely, about somebody very cruel that controlled him, and about some nightmarish psycho-trip when he and Arkail freed that mage... Maera would try her best to comfort him, ease his panic and offer him security and gentleness. It often took him a while to find his way back into reality, but when he did, he was exhausted and muddled, and just snuggled up to her, clutching to Maera's body as if she was some piece of driftwood and he was about to drown. She didn't know much about what Styx had been, she realized, she only knew the Goblin he was today. And she really, really wanted that Goblin back, more than anything. No matter what.

Back in the cell, there was a small oil lamp and a box with torture supplies, needles and pincers and also her Academy robes. When she went rummaging about in the box, she found a small vial of Amber, almost empty. The torturer, who had some secret Amber addiction himself, must have left it here accidentally. Maera took it in her hands, looked at the dangerous golden liquid, then looked over to her Styx, how he was lying there unable to move, suffering.

She made a decision.

Maera put the vial to her lips and quickly drank the leftover Amber in it. It tasted weird, and she immediately felt her head pound and her vision blur. Styx's body turned bright yellow, and the world was hidden in a blood-red haze. It wasn't enough, she realized, she needed more... Shaking, she staggered toward Styx, taking his face in her hands. Her heart raced like a frightened bird in a cage. She bent over him and kissed him passionately, and the taste told her that some Amber still hung on his lips. She hoped that this was enough to take her where he was now. His lips were warm, and that was the last thing she felt before she lost her consciousness and collapsed on his body.


	12. XI

I know that Goblins are not everybody's darlings and honestly, I don't give a fuck about that and everyone who also loves them is my friend. This story does have some followers, I've seen you! Don't deny it. Show Rakash and Maera some love. A tiny little review would be much appreciated and a great motivation to keep this up.

Anyway, here we go... Enjoy!

* * *

XI

Maera opened her eyes.

She was lying in a dark corridor made of stones bigger than her head. Large black smears of soot covered part of the walls where torches lit it, creating deep shadows in the areas the light didn't touch. She stood up and walked in one direction, as there was nothing else to do. Her head hurt, and the muffled sounds around her told her that she must be in an inhabited place. After a while, the dark corridor ended abruptly and she was standing on a balcony. The view she saw there was... wrong.

Stairs, walkways, walls, towers, stoops, bridges, daises, all of those entwined in one gigantic open area, like an artificial cobweb made of stone and iron. The place Maera saw didn't look like something that could exist in reality. Some of the staircases and parts of buildings were upside down, others flowed through massive walls, and some bent in impossible angles. It was like seeing a large castle through a kaleidoscope, all covered in some glowing golden dust that floated the place and hid the areas in the background. It was confusingly huge.

Maera took a deep breath and smelled Amber in the air.

She realized that this might be the Atrium of Akenash, or at least some impressions of its complex architecture, back when it still floated in the sky. She had no idea where she was exactly, but she knew that she had to find Styx. Something deep inside her told her that he was here, somewhere.

She turned in a random direction and walked down a staircase to the left of the balcony. When she came around a dark corner, she heard heavy footsteps. Maera quickly pressed herself against the wall and held her breath. Two guards in leather and mail, armed with crossbows, marched past her without noticing. She had no reason to think that they were going to harm her, but all her instincts set warning bells ringing in her head. The guards had no faces, only empty grey ovals. With wide eyes, Maera waited for the guards to disappear, then glanced around the corner. She saw a large hall lit with chandeliers, with numerous staircases winding about from impossible directions. Roots thick as a dragon's neck wound their way around the place like tentacles, golden stripes glowing on their surface. Large red banners like the ones she had seen in the ruin of the embassy, decorated with the emblem of Akenash, floated from the walls and ceiling alike. A horde of armed guards in light and heavy armor patrolled the area, mindlessly walking on their paths like bees in a hive. Maera asked herself what they were guarding so sedulously, and if they even knew.

The rear end of the hall was shrouded in deep shadows, but right at the back there was some sort of gate or exit. She couldn't really see what lay behind that exit from her position, but beams of blood-red and golden color floated through the darkness, like there was some massive fire raging behind. Something drew her to that place, pulled her with invisible strings.

She had to reach it.

Maera carefully crouched around the corner and hid behind a crate. She waited for some guards to pass her, and for another one to turn around and look away, before she quickly sneaked past to cower behind some wooden closet. Everything she perceived was hostile, the light, the heavy footsteps, the sound of blades drawn from sheaths, the sound of her heart beating frantically in her chest. She had the feeling that nothing of this was real, but it still scared her and made her blood rush with agitation and her sensitive ears prick, like some dream that felt like reality. Was that how Styx had felt when he had moved around in this maze? With everybody and everything being a threat to him? Every torch, every candle, seemed to be there just to expose her to the eyes of the ever searching guards with their sharp blades. Maera stuck to the shadows, carefully and silently prowling forward. She was not used to this, for the life in the Library rarely forced her to find her way between hordes of enemies unseen. But even though, her short, agile Dragonelf body allowed her to move quick and nimble.

Without anyone noticing, Maera made her way to the exit of the confusing hall. It opened to a large bridge. Around her, the surreal staircases and upside down buildings vanished in the darkness, and the bridge lead to what seemed to be the burning center of this dizzying complex.

It was a floating tree.

All the glowing roots originated from that tree, growing into all directions like veins from an organ. It was larger than any tree Maera had ever seen, its trunk thicker than a castle tower. It had no leaves. As she walked closer to the tree, she could hear what sounded almost like a song, a faint echo in her head, as if the tree was singing. Maera also noticed that the tree oozed a golden glowing liquid dripping down into the abyss in thick streams, like a melting candle made of gold. The tree shone in the darkness like a blazing star. Was this the famous World Tree she had heard the Bigot talk about?

She reached the head of the bridge. There was an iron cage around the tree, to protect it, probably. The gate was locked, but she managed to squeeze between two twisted iron bars. Now she could see that the tree was wounded, with lacerations longer than her oozing the golden liquid as if it was bleeding. There were broken branches and large splits in the bark. The smell of spilled Amber was overwhelming.

The tree was dying, Maera saw.

When she approached it, she noticed a staircase that ascended to the crown of the tree. She climbed it, and when she did she glimpsed some creature on the top. She started to run. The creature was short, and walked in a slightly hunched way.

"Styx...?", she whispered. The figure came in sight. It had sat down on a branch slightly above the ground, and the branch lead to something that looked like a burning heart, pounding and glowing, pumping Amber into the tree's limbs. The creature _did_ look like Styx from that distance, a Goblin with a dagger and a cowl, but as she ran closer she saw that there were differences.

That Goblin was older, much older, with a scarred, weary face, longer ears and a brownish mottled skin color. He wore a leather armor she had already seen on Styx, but he looked a little more straight and upright, and at the same time it seemed to Maera that he was weaker than Styx, at least from inside.

When he looked at her, she saw that glint in his yellow eyes that could only be described as utterly insane. He grinned, but it was a grin that lacked any kindness.

"You are not Styx", Maera stated.

The Goblin that looked like a disordered version of _her_ Styx laughed. His voice sounded so much like Styx that she winced, but it was much raspier and very tired.

"Oh, on the contrary. Nobody is more Styx than I am. Not even the poor little wretch of a Rakash you are searching for. I'm the only one, that is", he answered.

"Who are you?", Maera asked him.

"I am Styx. I am an Orc, or at least, I used to be one."

"You are not a Goblin...?"

" _NO!_ Those little rats I spit out to do the dirty work for me are Goblins, but I... I used to be a shaman, a powerful and respected member of a famous Orc clan... My goal was to study the World Tree, and the Amber that flows from it. With its help, I should have become such a powerful mage, being able to create my own slaves to fulfill my orders... But the Amber corrupted me, and the only chance to become an Orc once more was to get the heart of the tree. When I made the imbecilic mistake to grant one of my slaves, my _Rakashs_ , a little more brains than the others, he ran riot and destroyed everything I worked for. Look at me!" His sudden anger made Maera take a step back.

"That Rakash set his stupid mind on killing me, and guess what, he cost me everything and destroyed the heart of the tree. He even cost me my own body! I'm just a vague memory, a fucking _ghost_ buried in the dark corner of his pathetic brain. But if he thought that this little rebellion of his was enough to get rid of me, he was wrong. A patch of my soul still lives on in his mind, without him knowing. He has buried me so deep that I had a free hand, waiting for my opportunity to break free. And I will!"

"You are planning to take over Styx's body?", Maera asked carefully. This Goblin seemed so crazy that she feared for her safety.

"I AM STYX! The Rakash's body is mine by right. Back then, when he and that huge Orc warrior entered the mage's conscience, I almost reached my goal. I almost made him surrender to me, drive him insane, and then I would have had the chance to regain control. But that stubborn little vermin refused my generous offer, and I had to wait even longer... And now, with the power of Amber flowing in his veins again, my time has come", the other Styx said with a mad smile.

Maera thought as quickly as she could. This Goblin used to be an Orc, and Amber had given him magical powers and changed his body and mind, that's what she had understood. If he was telling the truth. And apparently, he was able to spawn other Goblins, and Styx was one of them...?

"What did you want St... _Rakash_ to do for you, since you made him cleverer than the others?"

"I wanted him to carry out orders a little more complex than just jumping in the face of a guard and biting him to death. I needed one able to speak, to solve riddles, spawn his own clones and think creatively to some extent. He had to be able to find the key, the maps and me in the dungeon of Akenash, and so I gave him most of my own intellect, except my memories. Unfortunately, that was way too much. I lost control over him, and somehow he made it to cut the connection between us two. I guess one of those damned Elves helped him be reborn in one of their Amber cocoons", the other Goblin answered. "But now... My time has come. I will be the one and only Styx again."

"You fucking won't", Maera said with a sudden flare of anger.

"Hahaha! Oh, but I will. I created that little Rakash, vomited him from my very own entrails down in this accursed tower of Akenash. He was never supposed to leave this place, and only because of his damn luck he made it to kill my mortal body, survived, and forgot everything that happened in the Atrium. He may have been reborn in one of those cocoons, but I never lost my control over him completely. I gave him terrible nightmares to shatter his composure, to weaken his spirit. I offered him to stop his pain so often, tried to convince him to just let go, to let me take the lead. Stubborn filthy rat, he just ignored me for the most part! But now that he is filled with Amber again and his buried memories are overflowing his helpless mind, while his powers are leaving him, I will have an easy job of it. I will take over his place, and have my life back."

Maera's heart was pounding with rage and fear, but she knew she had to control herself. If she stayed calm now, she might be able to find out how she could prevent that nutcase from taking over Styx.

"Why did you not do it earlier?"

"As long as he's in charge of his own thoughts, I can't take over. Especially since about half a year, when somehow the nightmares I gave him proved less helpful than usually... Something or someone was helping him to stabilize. He was more grounded and balanced than ever. It was so hard to mess with his head... Once or twice, I almost made it, and he was close to giving up. Damn, there always was something that helped him to remain in charge of his own thinking. Luckily, the Amber that knocked him out is a charm. He is absolutely helpless now, just like I need him to be. This is a tricky situation, because my own powers only work as long as he buries me in his mind. If he should choose to embrace his memories, I lose my powers over him. If he decides to come to peace with his past, there's no hidden, dark corner left in his mind to shelter me. But with that pigheaded stubbornness, he will keep on repressing his past, and I can pull the strings from the shadows of his mind. Lucky for me." Suddenly, the other Goblin tilted his head and squinted at Maera.

"Wait... It's _you_ who messed with my efforts to drive Rakash insane, aren't you? Ah, don't say anything! He has found himself a little toy. You were the one he was thinking about all the time! The damn shield he used against all my attempts to break his resistance. Don't tell me he actually risked his ass to save you? Adorable. No, really. What a pathetic try to stop me from taking over. He's clutching at any straw, is he not? Well, _nothing_ will cause him to embrace his memories, not even you. He will never accept what I did to him, accept his horrible past. And this will help me to ultimately break him." The other Styx grinned maliciously.

Maera knew that if she would open her mouth, she would swear like a sailor, so she clenched her teeth and glared at him. Then she turned around and ran away. The other Goblin laughed nastily behind her.

"If you're thinking that you can save your disgusting little admirer, you are wasting your time. It's _my_ turn now. And Rakash is dying in the same place he was born. Isn't that fitting?"

Maera didn't listen. She wiped tears from her face as she ran down the stairs, with the insane laughter of the other one at her back. She left the bridge, turning to a random corridor that departed from the center of the Atrium, not looking back.

She ran and ran until her legs hurt and her lungs felt like they were bursting. Apparently, Styx felt much, much more for her than he had ever dared to admit, she knew now, if she could trust the words of that mad Goblin. If he was telling the truth, Styx's liaison with her had helped him to fight back the mental poison his former self was spreading in him, which was something that both horrified her and also filled her with such a deep emotion that it almost broke her heart. She had to find Styx and wake him up, make him accept his memories to stop that insane twin of his. She had to save him. Finally, Maera couldn't run any more. Panting for air, she stopped.

Maera was standing in some kind of alchemistic laboratory, she noticed. There were distillers, burners and flasks, just like in her own, but all of the tubes and bulbs were filled with Amber, spreading a faint orange light. While she was trying to catch her breath, she pushed some stray dreadlocks from her face. She twitched when she felt the scar the Inquisition had cut in her left hand burn from the Amber she had wiped from Styx's lips. She ignored the pain as she heard a voice coming from the other side of a shelf and went closer.

An old human was standing in front of a condenser, skinny and stooped. He was dressed in simple brown linen, and his white hair was covered with a hood. He was quietly muttering to himself. When she carefully came closer, he turned around and squinted at some point next to her with wrinkly grey eyes.

"Manfred? Manfred, is that you?" He started to make some steps towards her, but then turned and waddled to a desk. He opened the lid of a storage jar and looked inside.

"Manfred? No, he's not there. I could swear I heard him coming." The old man lifted up the corner of a dirty carpet, peered inside a boiling kettle and rummaged around in his own pocket. Maera shook her head in disbelief. As she came closer, the old man still looked for this _Manfred_ in the most impossible places.

"Oh, hello, young lady! Have you seen Manfred?", he asked when he finally noticed the Dragonelf.

"Uhm... No, I'm very sorry. Who are you?", Maera asked as slowly and soft as possible.

"My name is Querberus. I am the architect of this magnificent Atrium. And I am here to distill Amber, but somehow the experiment isn't quite working like it should..." Querberus turned around again and lifted up a book. "Manfred, you under there?"

"Is Manfred some friend of yours?", Maera wanted to know.

"Well, I guess he is", the old man answered in the most even minded manner while he took some ominous blue glowing mushroom from a box and put it in his mouth. Maera grimaced. "Manfred is not the tallest person. Actually, one could even describe him as very short, yes. Pretty ugly, if you ask me... And green. That's unconventional, is it not? I don't know why I remember him so vividly, you see, as my brain is a little unhinged. He told me to wait here, but he hasn't come back yet. But he knows that I have to work, I need to distill Amber for Lord Barimen!"

Maera remembered vaguely that the Barimen family actually had to do with the Atrium of Akenash, and also with some semi-legal Amber traffic, but what she interested most was the description of Manfred. She realized that the deranged old man was talking about Styx.

"Please, Querberus, you wouldn't happen to know where Manfred wanted to go when he left?"

"He probably wanted to get to the airships?", Querberus mused. It sounded like a question.

"I don't know, that's why I'm asking. Did he?", Maera asked back.

"I don't think so. What would someone like him want with an airship?", Querberus replied. Maera took a deep breath and massaged the bridge or her nose with two fingers. "Do you know where Manfred went?", she tried again.

"Oh, Manfred! Yes, he's a friend of mine. He told me to wait here for him. He wanted to go to the Amber Room, probably to find one of the relics. He likes those relics, Manfred. Have you heard of him?"

"Can you tell me how to get to the Amber Room?", Maera asked excitedly.

"Of course I can! I designed and created this tower, yes. Have you ever been to Akenash? My big Masterpiece, the Atrium! I know every little corner of it like the back of my hand", Querberus said, pointing to his knee.

"So, where is it?", Maera wanted to know, eager with hope to find Styx.

"Erm... I must have forgotten."

Maera sighed, one hand put on her face. Her right ear twitched.

"But I think I can take you there, young lady. I built this tower, you know?"

"Alright then, let's go! Quick!", Maera said with glittering eyes, took Querberus by his ragged sleeve and pulled him from the laboratory.

"Not so fast!", he complained. "You might not be able to tell by my look, but I'm not that young any more. We've got plenty of time. This way."

The old man led the impatient Dragonelf up a staircase that was entangled with golden glowing roots of the World Tree. They slowly ascended through the shadows and clouds of Amber sparks until they reached a massive stone wall. Maera was afraid that Querberus had led her to some random dead-end, but then he pressed a scraggy hand against a brick and the wall slid down. They stepped into a dark, simple chamber made of stones. The only object in it was a large glass tube standing right in the middle, emitting a soft golden light. It was filled with Amber up to the brim. Some ducts led away from it, and something was inside.

When Maera got closer she saw that it was Styx.

He was naked, floating in the Amber. Not making a move. With tears in her eyes, she ran towards the tube and pressed her hands against the warm glass. A terrible fear gnawed at her heart. She had no idea what she would do if he was already dead. When she looked Styx over with growing panic, she noticed that the tattoo on his shoulder shone brightly, and through the lids of his closed eyes she could see a yellow shine as well. When Styx slept, she knew, his tattoo and eyes didn't glow, and a faint hope inside her grew that he might be still alive.

"Oh, Manfred is taking a bath. How nice for him", Querberus remarked. Maera wasn't paying him too much mind.

"How the fuck do I get him out of there...?", she muttered more to herself, but the old man had heard her.

"Do you think that he has bathed enough? Yes, indeed. Staying in the Amber for too long is not good. In fact, he will die if he stays in there longer. You'll have to get him out, and quick."

"How do I do that?", Maera shouted desperately.

"You push this button here." Querberus put his hand on the tube, and it gave an audible crack that echoed loudly in the chamber. A heartbeat later, the tube exploded in a million tiny shards, and the Amber flooded the room.

" _Styx!_ ", Maera called, taking him in her arms. The old man started wading around as if all of this was commonplace.

The golden liquid oozing endlessly from the tube started to fill the room, the level relentlessly rising and rising. Maera desperately held the still lifeless Styx in her arms, fighting against the flood of Amber around her. Soon, it went up to her waist. The door had closed again and was not to be seen. Styx didn't move, and when she pressed her hand against his chest she felt his heartbeats, slow and irregular.

"Styx! You need to wake up, now! Or the other one will take over, and you'll be gone! Please Styx, wake up!", she begged, shaking him slightly. He didn't show any signs of life. Maera wanted to weep.

"Styx... I know all those memories of yours are so terrible that you just want to give up, but you need to fight this! You need to come to peace with your past! That way the other one will lose his powers over you! Please, Styx, be strong. Don't give up. If you allow yourself to remember your past, the other one will no longer be able to hide in your mind. Accept what happened, that way it won't hurt you anymore!"

The Amber rose higher. Styx didn't react to her, his heart still beating slow and unsteady. Maera had never felt so lost in her entire life. Pining away with grief and desperation, she kissed him on the lips, holding him close. Tears ran down her face and she felt like her heart was bursting with sorrow and pain. Maera pressed her Amber-burnt hand on Styx's tattooed shoulder and brought her face right next to his ear.

"Styx... You must be strong, _you must._ I need you. _Because I love you_ ", she whispered.

His tattoo lit up brightly under her touch.

Styx opened his eyes.

The delusion dwindled away in a chaotic maelstrom the color of blood and honey.

They woke up.


	13. XII

XII

Styx slowly realized that he was lying on a cold surface in a dimly lit room. Something weighed down on his body, stirring faintly.

He _remembered_.

With a gasp he sat up. His heart was pounding wildly and he was breathing hard. Styx had been on a trip through his memories, all of his memories that he had been trying to wipe from his mind all those countless years. He _knew_... He finally knew what had happened in Akenash, and what his former self had done to him. The voice inside his head, giving him orders, controlling him like a puppet. How he found out about his cruel twin, the first Styx, his own creator. The Elf, his missions, the betrayal, his revenge. He remembered what he had learned about his very own origins, right before he destroyed the heart of the tree, when he had almost killed himself in the Amber lake. He remembered how he was born again, how he _survived_. How he created the Goblins. And how his own creator was killed.

What he had learned in the mind of Arkence was true, it was all true.

Styx was a Rakash, the first of them, and his own creator was dead... And somehow, the thought of that horrifying mess of images of guards, torches and dark places enshrouded in Amber dust didn't scare him anymore. He knew about Akenash, his creator, his former self, and he took it calmly.

He was the one and only Styx.

What had happened in the past didn't matter anymore.

With a strangely tranquil feeling, Styx looked at the figure that was lying on his body, and saw that it was Maera.

He cursed wildly as he suddenly remembered what had happened _before_ those Inquisition fuckers made him drink Amber and totally knocked him out. Maera on the torture rack. How the hell had they both gotten into this cell, and why was she unconscious too? He quickly took her in his arms and gently patted her cheek to wake her up.

"Maera! You alright, little beauty?"

To his great relief, Maera blinked. She looked exhausted and tired, but when she saw him, an incredulous smile lit up her face.

"Styx! You are back, you are alive!", she whispered breathlessly into his hood when she threw her arms around him. "You are back..."

"Maera..."

If Styx had been able to cry, he would have cried now, for joy and relief. He held her as close as he possibly could, like he was never going to let her go again, deeply inhaling her scent, his hands feeling her warm delicate body under her dress. All his thoughts were wiped out of his mind, and the only thing left there was her name. _Maera, Maera, Maera_... He couldn't possibly put into words how overwhelmed with joy he was to have her back. Maera was trembling in his arms, and he could feel her warm tears on his neck. He smiled, for he knew they were not shed because of sadness.

They stayed like that for a short eternity, holding each other close, bathing in the bliss of their reunion. Then, Maera lifted her head to look at him, and Styx's heart skipped a beat. The dimly glowing lamp in the cell made her soft hazelbrown eyes shimmer golden, just like in the first sleepless night of theirs, back then in the tavern, when he had met her. When his dull life had been turned upside down. She was smiling again, that wonderful smile that made Styx feel light-headed and speechless, the one that had replaced his haunting nightmares over time, filling his life with something he had never even dreamed of.

"Maera, I...", he started suddenly, cupping her face in his hands. She looked back at him expectantly.

"Yes...?"

"I...", Styx tried again. He wanted to speak, but he couldn't, he just couldn't, it was too much. The words stuck in his throat, until he thought that the pressure was too much to bear, but then Maera gently laid a finger on his lips.

"It's fine", she whispered. She hugged him, her face next to his, and breathed in his ear: " _So do I._ "

Styx let that sink in. Then he grinned. He turned his face to hers and they kissed.

Styx could have kept on kissing her forever, enjoying her soft, warm lips on his, the taste of her mouth, the feeling of her sharp teeth against his tongue. It felt so wonderful that he forgot his surroundings completely. But then, just when he felt that certain tension in his loins growing, there was a loud bang outside their private little microcosm that cell had grown to, and people shouting orders.

Suddenly, they were back in the ruins of Akenash, and they were still prisoners of the Inquisition. Smiling at each other and snickering, they sighed, both a little frustrated about the realization of the trouble they were still in.

"Well... Dammit. Are you feeling alright?", Maera asked, stroking his cheek.

"I'm okay. What about you? They tortured you! I swear I'm gonna rip their slimy hands off and shove them up their..."

"I'm fine, really. In the beginning it was really tough, but I soon figured out a way to deal with it."

"But you were screaming when I found you!", Styx remarked.

"I was acting. I'm a Dragonelf, silly. Fireproof, remember?"

"Oh, shit... Yeah, that rings a bell. Damn, so that's why you told me to make off when I arrived?"

"Yes, kinda", Maera replied. "I was hoping I could get free myself, maybe after collecting my strength for a while. I was so worried about you, Styx. I knew the Bigot had his insane bullshit waiting for you, and I was so afraid he would kill you…" Her voice shook a little and tear ran down her cheek. Styx gently brushed it off with his thumb.

"So you knew I would come to save you, little troublemaker?", he teased with a lopsided grin. "That's a little bit presumptuous, expecting me to step right in the lion's den to save your juicy ass, don't you think?"

"And still, here you are, after you've almost managed to get screwed over, even if you knew it was a trap", Maera replied. There was a knowing glimmer in the depth of her gaze, and Styx shifted uncomfortably. She knew him too well.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"I told you so often about Dragonelf anatomy, did you ever listen?", Maera chided grinning.

"Well, all I need to know about Dragonelf anatomy I found out by intense field studies, if you know what I mean...", Styx teased with a hand caressing her breasts. She laughed.

"Stop it, Rakash! What about you? Any injuries?"

"Nope, just bruises. Shit, this was one hell of a trip... After the Bigot made me drink the Amber, I don't really recall what happened next. I just know that I remember my past now, it's all back. All the nasty shit I had forgotten for so long. What did you do? Somehow you saved me, didn't you?", Styx asked.

"I also drank Amber to follow you", Maera admitted. Styx's eyes went wide.

" _What_? You could have died! This shit is unpredictable! Did the Bigot made you drink it?"

"No. When you had your blackout we were brought into this cell here. I found some Amber the torturer had left, and drank it to follow you", Maera answered.

"And, did it work?", he asked. She nodded.

"I guess that under the magical influence of the Amber I was able to enter your subconsciousness, your memories in Akenash. I met someone there, by the World Tree, a Goblin who claimed to be your creator or something."

"Yeah, that shithead again. Won't let go of me. Did you talk to him?"

"I did, but I didn't quite understand everything he told me. But he said that if you kept repressing your past, and give up, he would cause your bad memories to overwhelm you, and he would take over." Maera tilted her head.

"Did you… Did you accept what happened?", she asked carefully.

Styx narrowed his gaze. "My memories are back, and the thought of all the shit that happened in my past does not make me want to mash my head against the wall anymore, so yeah, I guess. It's definitely better than before." He was aware of Maera's questioning look. "It's all pretty fucked up and complicated. You sure you wanna hear it sometime?"

"Of course. If you want to talk about it, I'm there for you listen."

"You're not going to think I'm crazy or anything?", he asked quietly.

"Not crazier than I already know you are, my Rakash", she whispered, wrapping her arms around him. Styx blinked, then smiled. Maera continued.

"So I went to look for you, and found you with the help of some crazy old man..."

"Querberus! Poor old fuck", Styx interrupted.

"Exactly. When I found you, you looked like you had already given up, driven insane by that other guy. But I talked to you, and when I put my injured hand on your tattoo, it lit up and you woke. Do you remember what I said?", she asked.

"Nope, not a bit."

Maera nodded slowly.

"What did you say to wake me?", Styx wanted to know.

"Erm... Nothing important. Just told you to wake the fuck up."

"And then we both were back here, right?"

"Right." Maera changed the topic. "I think finding a way out of here might be a good idea."

"Fuck yeah! But I guess just running headless into these idiots won't help us. Dammit, I hate the thought, but we might need to challenge them directly. Can't avoid it. We need a plan. What do we got?"

Maera went to the back of the cell, where the box stood. She quickly slipped out of her bloody shirt and donned her Academy robes that lay beside it. Then she skimmed through the box.

"Some bloody knives, pincers and needles", she reported.

"Useless. I still have my dagger and my equipment, but we'll need more than maps and throwing knives to get out of here." Styx rummaged around in his beltpockets, until suddenly his fingers found the stone with the light-blue rune inscription. He had almost forgotten that Abbyss had given it back to him. "Oh, and this thing." He showed it to Maera.

When the Dragonelf saw the rune, her eyes went wide with excitement.

"A _blazebane_! Styx, that's it! That's our way out!", she shouted, taking the stone from him.

"A _what_?"

"I don't have time to explain, you'll see it. It's old magic. I have a bunch of tricks up my sleeve that you've never seen me using before, since it was too dangerous to do that in a Library full of dry paper. But since I've been hold up here, I've collected my strength and I think I can pull off a few useful things. But I have no idea how to get away..."

"We'll hop on an airship. The hardest part will be getting there without the Inquisition's men stopping us", Styx mused.

"Alright, then. You open the door, we get out and I... _improvise_. When we face any opposition, just run for the airship and make sure we have a clean path. I'll catch up with you outside and we leave this shitpit", Maera explained.

"You didn't even tell me what exactly you're gonna do! I don't want you to get in trouble with that many assholes at once, it's too dangerous!", Styx remarked worriedly.

"Trust me. I can do this. But I need you to protect me after we've left the building", Maera said. "Let's get out there and kick some human asses."

Styx grinned. "That's my girl."

He plucked out some lockpicks from his pocket and started fumbling around on the door's lock. Under his nimble fingers, seconds after the lock opened creaking. He got ready to push open the door. They prepared themselves for their escape. Just before Styx got out, he turned around to Maera once more.

"Dammit, I forgot..."

"What? Make it quick!"

Styx leaned over, his face next to hers.

"I owe you my life, Maera. Thank you, my beauty. Thank you."

Then he kissed her deeply, and he put so much passion and affection in it that when he let go of her and left the cell, Maera stood stunned for a few heartbeats, her breath stolen by the gravity she felt in his gesture. With a touched smile, she followed him.

* * *

Outside the cell, Styx hid behind a box and waved Maera to do the same. There was a guard standing in front of the door who didn't notice them slip out, but it was only a matter of time until he would. A quick look around the ruin of the embassy told Styx that there were way too many guards to sneak out unseen, the place was crawling with soldiers and there was nowhere to hide. The way to the main door wasn't too long, but there was a whole crowd of heavily armored guards and Inquisitors in their way, all enshrouded in the smoke of the torches and firepits. The Bigot was standing in a different corner of the room, bent over a table covered with parchments.

Styx cursed quietly. This didn't look good at all, in fact, it looked pretty damn impossible. He took a deep breath. He had to trust Maera, and he did. He turned to her, a finger put to his lips.

"Shhh. You ready?", he mouthed.

She nodded.

Styx rushed to the guard, dragged him into his cover and rammed his dagger in his chest. Then he spun around and lopped two throwing knifes into the necks of two more men. They went down noisily, and a bunch of guards ran towards them, pointing and shouting.

The first guard to challenge Styx got kicked in the knees and a dagger stabbed in his face, the second one he headbutted and twisted his neck around as the man went down. A third guard, a knight, forced Styx to parry some blows that had his arms ring with the pain from the impact. Styx made it to escape him with a roll and brought him down with a slash in his knee pits.

He cursed as he saw a flock of Inquisition disciples appear, their hands raised, ready to use their fucking magic.

"Maera, you okay?", Styx asked over his shoulder, getting ready to fight. When he saw what she was doing, he gaped unbelieving, the guards forgotten. The men approaching them stopped as well, horrified by the sight.

Maera was in flames.

She stood behind Styx, her arms slightly stretched out, her burning hands turned upwards as if she was holding two small comets. Her eyes glowed golden, and a hissing blaze of orange fire flared around her arms and shoulders, the air around her body flickering with heat. She was breathing hard with concentration, her fiercely burning eyes focusing the approaching enemies.

"Run", she whispered.

Styx ran.

Hell broke loose.

Styx headed straight for the exit, not turning back. Behind him, he heard Maera shout, and then a sudden rush of heat thundered over him, and the room was lit all in red. Sparks and flakes of ash were filling the air. He felt the heat stinging in his back and heard the soldiers scream in agony, some of them rushing by him like human torches, desperately trying to slap out the flames. Another explosion made the ruin shake and bricks and mortar rain down. The blazing flames licked the wood of the furniture and wagons, and soon the embassy became one chaotic inferno.

When another knight ran up to Styx, his longsword hit the Goblin's hip and left a bleeding cut. Luckily it wasn't deep, and Styx jumped up to the man, held him headlocked and twisted until he heard the neck break. Another one got a knife to the temple. Ignoring the pain, Styx kept running. He looked behind him for just a second and glimpsed Maera lopping a streak of fire into the chest of a torturer. The man went down screaming, just to be replaced by another one who had the stupid idea to get in her way. Maera fought like a short fire atronach, spreading flames wherever she put her feet, the air around her boiling with heat.

By now, the building had started to burn and the Inquisition's soldiers left it. Outside, panic was spreading as quickly as the flames. Styx stabbed and spun to battle his way through to one of the airships. He was less used to this than to stealthy fighting and hated open combat, but he was determined to make it. Bleeding from numerous cuts and his lungs hurting like hell from the sprint and fiery air, he got closer to the airship and found the way clear. Most soldiers had run to the embassy to see what caused this chaos.

He turned around and scanned the camp for Maera. She came running behind him. Most of her fire had gone out, only her hands still burned. Panting, she arrived next to him.

"You hurt?", he asked, taking her in his arms.

"Not really, just some scratches. And I'm exhausted. You look worse", she gasped.

"It's alright, we'll take care of that later. Shit, what a mess... Was that the runestone?"

"No, that was me. No time to explain. Later. The blazebane's right here", she answered, took out the stone and placed it on the ground.

"Fuck, we're getting company. Quick, hurry up!", Styx snapped when he noticed a horde of heavily armored knights and crossbow men charging towards them. They were way too many to fight them, and if the men should reach them before they could get on the airship, they would be doomed.

"Just a second", Maera said. She had closed her eyes, her lips moving slightly as she intonated a spell in a language unknown to Styx. She lifted up a hand and held it over the runestone.

The soldiers ran closer, swords drawn.

"Maera, we need to leave, come on!", Styx urged her, his dagger ready to defend them, but then she finished her intonation.

There was a light-blue flash, and the world fell silent for a second, consumed in white light. Styx held his hands before his eyes. Between his fingers he glimpsed the rune of the blazebane, now a crackling beam of energy in the open air, as it streaked towards the guards. They were dashed to the ground like pebbles in a mighty wave. Then the wave of light-blue energy hit the ruin, and the orange flames combined with the magical thunderbolts. The ruins of Akenash collapsed burning, dust and sparks intermingling with the fire as the leftovers of the walls crumbled down.

"Fuck me sideways, you are freaking me out!", Styx shouted to Maera, grinning widely. "Now that you've had your fun, can we leave? Please?"

Maera picked up the runestone and ran after him towards the nearby airship. A platform allowed them to step aboard the large deck, but before they had the opportunity to get inside, a figure emerged from the shadows quick as thought, hitting Maera against the head. She fell to the ground with a painful gasp.

"Maera!", Styx shouted. He went over to her and quickly checked her. She was stunned, groaning faintly and not too badly harmed, but unable to get up. Styx turned around to the man who had knocked her down, dagger drawn.

He was a tall, slender human clad in a black-and-purple robe that was now a bunch of torn rags. A mask might have covered the upper half of his face, but now it was gone. The lower half didn't look like anything human anymore. It had caught fire, and all what was left of his lips and jaw was a mess of burned flesh and dried blood. His eyes glittered with fury and madness.

"Oh shit, not you again", Styx complained.

The Bigot laughed insanely.

"Did you think your heretic magic would stop me? I cannot be killed, for I am the Grand Inquisitor, the one chosen to guide the realms of man back into the light, and rid it of the greenskin infestation!"

"You Inquisition fuckers seem to have an affinity for getting your faces burnt. No seriously, you remind me of somebody who was at least as nutty. You got a serious problem, buddy. Considered seeing a headshrinker, maybe?", Styx commented. He carefully edged further away from Maera while he talked to the Bigot.

"Hahahaha! Prepare to die the rat that you are! Die, and may your sinner's soul endure endless pain in the unholy..."

"Damn, stop with your bullshit, you're making my head hurt!", Styx interrupted him. He was worried not only about the still stunned Maera but also about the damn fires spreading all around the camp, getting awfully close to the wooden airship, and the soldiers that might have been left, hidden in the thick orange smoke. If he didn't get rid of that nutcase soon, they would be trapped.

"Die, Goblin!", the Bigot screamed. He raised his fist, and Styx felt an invisible cold hand grabbing him. He quickly rolled to the side to dodge the magical grip. Instinctively, he reached for a throwing knife and lobbed it at the Bigot. At the same time, some oil tank out in the yard exploded from the stray fire, and the wind blew a gush of flames over the airship. It made the knife miss its target. Styx held his breath as the heat thundered over him, making his eyes burn. The Bigot laughed, babbling some incoherent prayers. He didn't seem to feel the terrible heat, or maybe he had already gone so batshit that he didn't care about what happened to his body. His scorched face was the living proof, and his eyes glittered with frenzy. The man shot a dash of magical energy at Styx. It struck him on the hip, just where he already had a bad cut. Styx went to one knee, groaning with pain. Through the haze of smoke and flames, he glimpsed the man running towards him, his sword drawn, screaming like a madman. Styx yanked up his dagger to parry the blow. Without delay, the Bigot delivered a second blow. Styx made it, but his arm rang with pain as metal clashed against metal. He jumped up, kicked the Bigot in the knees and tried ramming his dagger in the man's back. The Inquisitor punched him in the stomach, which made Styx double over and took his breath for a second. A second that almost cost him his life, as the man reached for him with his magic. Styx quickly thrust his last throwing knife in the Bigot's shoulder. He screamed out in pain and seemed to grow even more furious. Styx parried blow after blow, with the much taller man leaving him no chance to make him trip or grab his neck, as he also used his fucking magic to keep the Goblin at a distance.

Styx started to feel his strength fade.

The Bigot drove him into a corner covered in deep shadows with ferocious blows of his broadsword, his burnt face looking like a demonic mask with the orange firelight dancing about. As Styx backed away, avoiding the rain of iron, his tattoo lit up as soon as the darkness enshrouded his body.

The _shadows_...

Something deeply buried inside Styx stirred.

Something deep inside him woke up, tasted the Amber still running through his veins.

Something _remembered_.

He was the Master of Shadows.

Styx disappeared.

He saw the Bigot hesitate, looking right through him. The burning madness in his eyes was replaced by confusion as he searched for his enemy. Invisible like a ghost, Styx moved behind the man to get out of his sword's range. The man heard his footsteps and spun around, only to see empty air behind him. He growled with anger. Styx quickly sneaked into another dark corner and became visible again. Feeling a strange, yet familiar power flow through him, he closed his eyes.

And opened them again. And then _another_ one, his inner eye.

The world turned the color of copper and blood.

Using his Amber vision, Styx quickly gazed around the platform of the airship under the blimp. He saw some hooks that had been hidden before, now glowing brightly and nimbly climbed them up. The Bigot was angrily cursing and praying, looking for his enemy. Styx perched on a beam and doubled over, throwing up something like a slimy, greenish egg. It hatched immediately, and he looked into the blank face of a scruffy version of himself, scrawny and covered with golden glowing Amber marks. The clone scratched his armpit, not caring about the inferno that was about to consume the airship.

Styx slipped out of his head and into the mind of his ragged copy.

The clone made his way down to the Bigot, who was prowling around with his sword. He couldn't find his opponent, so he angrily strode over to Maera. She tried to crawl away from him, but he was too fast. With iron gauntlets, the Inquisitor grabbed her by the hair.

"Come here, coward! Or I'll smash your little whore's ugly green head!", he shouted. His shout turned into horrified screaming as something jumped into his face and grabbed his head, clutching fiercely, no matter how wildly he squirmed. The Bigot let go of Maera. He felt sharp claws rip at his burnt skin and surprisingly strong arms strangling his throat. Finally, he managed to tear off the creature from his face. It fell to the floor with a hiss and disintegrated smoking.

"Come at me, and face your death!", the Bigot bellowed in insane fury. " _Vermin_!"

Styx did as he asked.

The Goblin jumped down on him from high above, grabbed his head and dug his sharp fangs into the man's throat, then he yanked the man down by one shoulder and rammed the dagger in his stomach.

"My...", Styx growled, twisting the dagger. The Bigot groaned, his face and chest covered in blood.

"... Name...", Styx continued, twisting again. The Bigot screamed in agony.

"... Is _STYX_!" One last violent twist of the blade, and the Bigot died with a gargling cry.

Breathing heavily, Styx glared down at the corpse of the High Inquisitor.

"Burn in your own hell, vermin", he snarled, wiped off the blood from his mouth and plucked out his dagger. Then he went over to Maera.

"Little beauty! You okay?", he asked, helping her get up.

"My head feels like an anvil, but I think I can walk. Quick, let's get into the cockpit and start this thing", she answered. Styx nodded and together they crossed the platform to the blimp. The cockpit was right at the prow of the airship, and after some lever-pulling and adjusting they got the ship running. Propellers droning and the whale oil rushing through the copper pipes, the airship slowly rose from the burning ground. Styx put the map on the panel with all the levers and instruments and together with Maera they set the control vane towards the Thaumaturgan Academy. Then they tended their wounds and cuts as good as they could.

Far below them, the ruins of Akenash, even the overgrown stones and walls, were burning and smoldering in magical blue and orange flames that consumed everything. Thick smoke wrapped up the former Atrium, the rusty gates, the broken statues, the Inquisition's banners turning to ashes. The dried-up lake bed in the middle, where the World Tree had died centuries ago, was barely visible anymore, covered in ash and fire. The evening's twilight made the fires glow brightly and covered the valley in dancing shadows as the burning ruins sank deeper into the swampy ground. The embassy had crumbled to bits, and corpses of Inquisition's agents scattered the mud.

Thoughtfully, Styx glanced through the window down at the leftovers of the Atrium of Akenash as they were slowly getting covered in a shroud of ash, glowing orange in the light of the setting sun. Maera stepped beside him, taking his hand into hers.

"There goes your past", she said quietly.

"Yeah."

"Akenash almost looks peaceful under that blanket of ash. As if it's covered in fresh snow."

Styx had to smile, despite himself.

"Weird, isn't it? It burnt a hole in my soul back then, and now, with you burning it to the ground, I'm fixed again."

"I'm glad you see it that way", Maera responded. They stood silent for a while, watching the ashes cloak the valley under them.

"What was that little... that skinny Goblin that helped you with the Bigot? Oh, and I'm still not sure if I understood everything your former self told me about you. You think you're ready to tell me?", Maera asked softly. "I mean, I'm totally okay if you want to forget about all of this, but..."

"It's fine", Styx interrupted her, gazing out into the clouds of smoke emerging from the Atrium of Akenash. "You were right. I've been running away from my past for way too long. I've been a fucking coward, trying all I could to survive all those years, and that dipshit in the back of my mind scared me too much to even think about what happened in the past. The voice of my former self is gone now, it seems, and all his nasty stuff doesn't hurt me anymore. You saved my life by making me accept my past, and I owe you the truth. Now that I remember everything. And you owe me an explanation on those crazy firestarter abilities of yours."

He turned his face to hers. Maera was smiling. Styx's head swam when he saw her, and he had to smile himself.

"After this", she said.

They kissed.

* * *

The stars were shining brightly on a firmament like black velvet when Styx and Maera finally felt able to speak again. They were sprawled all over each other on the floor of the airship's cockpit, naked and covered in sweat. Both were gasping for breath. Maera rolled over to prop herself up on Styx's chest, with a wide, satisfied grin on her face, her dreadlocks all tousled. Styx himself managed a low chuckle.

"Fuck me sideways... Is it just me or are you getting better every time we do this?", he asked.

"I could ask the same", Maera replied softly, kissing his chest and the tip of his ear. "I can't put into words how much I've missed you. How much I've missed this."

"What part? The thing with my fingers, the thing with my tongue or the trick with you sitting on top of me in that weird angle that makes me feel like I'm going to explode?"

"All of it", Maera replied laughing. "And the trick that makes my neck sticky." She used one finger to pick up some of the greenish milky liquid that was running down between her breasts and licked it off.

"Yeah, that one. That's a good trick", Styx snickered. He wrapped her in his arms once more and kissed her deeply.

"I missed you too, little beauty, you know?"

"I know. You came to save me even if you knew it was a trap. My stupid, brave Rakash."

Styx smiled at that.

"Hey, I couldn't let those dickheads hurt you, could I? The mere thought gave me nightmares. And then you did most of the work to get us out of that shitpit, brave little troublemaker. Why the hell do you have this... fire control?", Styx asked, stretching his arms.

"All Dragonelves are not only impervious to heat, but also have the potential to become very powerful pyromancers. I've never really made use of those abilities, because, you know, playing with fire in a Library is a fucking stupid idea. But I've learned pyromancy, long ago. I meditated to gather my strength to roast those assholes when the right moment had come. But I didn't expect that they were going to force you to drink Amber and that you would get knocked out. It all went a little... out of control."

She looked at her left hand. The wound the Inquisition's men had cut in her palm to print her hand on the message for Styx had been burnt deeper by the Amber, and now the scar slightly glowed in the dark, with the veins in her wrist showing a faint golden shine as well. She made a worried face.

"I had a wound on my hand, and then I touched Amber. Is this gonna stay?"

Styx gently took her hand in his.

"Yeah, probably. Sorry, Maera. Amber eats into flesh. But hey, now you're gonna know when you're hidden in the shadows, just like me!" He pointed to his glowing shoulder tattoo. Maera laughed.

"I guess it'll remind me of what happened. Of how you risked your life to save me."

"Of how you saved _me_ , you mean", Styx said. "Or, maybe, of how we saved each other."

"That sounds about right."

"You know what?"

"What?"

"I think...", Styx mused, gazing up to the window of the cockpit into the starry sky. "I think we make a pretty good team, you and I."

It took Maera a while before she answered.

"I think so too."

"It would be a shame to not keep this up, wouldn't it?"

"It would be fucking stupid."

"Yeah, you say it! So stupid."

"So... The smartest thing would be to stay together, right?", Maera asked slowly, watching her own hand as she let it wander over Styx's belly.

Styx didn't answer.

"Bryn has already gotten used to you. And I've already put all those pillows for you in my bed. Would be a hell of an effort to store them away again."

"Then just leave the pillows there for me. Don't bother yourself."

"Don't worry. I'll leave them there."

"Good."

Styx took her hand with the glowing Amber mark in his once again and gently squeezed it. Below them, the whale oil engine was clattering softly, and they could hear the wind howling outside as the airship brought them back home. Styx had a _home_ now, he reflected suddenly. He had somebody he belonged to, somebody to be _together_ with. He felt Maera rub her face against his chest, her soft warm body pressed against his.

Styx had never felt so whole in his life.

Maera brought her face above his and tilted her head down to kiss him. "You wanna tell me your story now?"

Styx nodded and sat up, Maera still snuggled up to him in his arms. He breathed in and collected himself. He had never talked about this before, at least not voluntarily. But this was Maera, _his_ Maera, and he trusted her more than he trusted himself.

"It's all really messed up, and I'm not sure were to begin."

"Just tell me about your first memories then, and work your way up", she encouraged him.

"Alright..." Styx pressed another kiss on Maera's forehead and started:

" _I remember... That I was born in a dried up lake bed._

 _There was a big, dead tree._

 _Dozens of my kind crawling around... like rats._

 _But I wasn't like them._

 _I was a rat of another kind..."_


End file.
